1 Samuel 27

1 But David thought, “Some day Saul will capture me [if I stay around here]. So the best thing that I can do is to escape and go to the Philistia area. If I do that, Saul will stop searching for me here in Israel, and I will be safe.”

But David said to himself, “One of these days Saul is going to get me. I think I'd better run away to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up looking for me all over Israel and he won't catch me.”

2 So David and his 600 men left Israel and went to see Maoch’s son Achish, who was king of Gath [city in the Philistia area].

So David and the six hundred men with him set off, crossed the border, and went to Achish, son of Maoch, the king of Gath.

3 David and his men and their families started to live there in Gath, the city where king Achish lived. David’s two wives were with him—Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Nabal’s widow Abigail, from Carmel.

David and his men settled down with Achish in Gath. All the men had their families with them, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel, Nabal's widow.

4 When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.

When Saul found out that David had run away to Gath, he didn't go on looking for him.

5 [One day] David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with us, give us a place in one of the small villages where we can stay. There is no need [RHQ] for us to stay in the city where you are the king.”

David said to Achish, “Please do me a favor: assign me somewhere in one of the towns in the countryside so I can live there. I, your servant, don't really deserve to live in the royal city with you.”

6 [Achish liked what David suggested]. So that day Achish gave to David Ziklag [town]. As a result, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah since that time.

Achish gave him Ziklag right away, and the town still belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.

7 David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.

David lived in the country of the Philistines for a year and four months.

8 [During that time] David and his men raided the people who lived [in the areas] where the Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek people-groups lived. Those people had lived there a long time. That area extended [south] from Telam to the Shur [Desert] and to [the border of] Egypt.

During that time David and his men were raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. These people had lived in the land as far as Shur and Egypt from ancient times.

9 Whenever David’s men attacked them, they killed all the men and women, and they took all the people’s sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels, and even their clothes. Then they would bring those things back home, [and David would go to talk] to Achish.

When David attacked a place, he did not leave anybody alive. He took the flocks and herds, the donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he would go back to Achish.

10 Each time Achish would ask David, “Where did you go raiding today?” David [would lie to him]. Sometimes he would reply that they had gone to the southern part of Judah, and sometimes he would say that they had gone to Jerahmeel, or to the area where the Ken people-group lived.

When Achish asked him, “Where have you been raiding today?” David would reply, “In the desert of Judah,” or “the desert of Jerahmeel,” or “the desert of the Kenites.”

11 David’s men never brought back to Gath any man or woman who was left alive. David thought, “If [we do not kill everyone, some of] them [who are still alive] will go and tell Achish [the truth] about what we really did.” David did that all the time that he [and his men] lived in the Philistia area.

David didn't leave anybody alive that could come to Gath because he thought, “They might tell on us and say, ‘David did this.’” This is what he did all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines.

12 So Achish believed [what] David [told him], and said to himself, “[Because of what David has done, ] his own people, the Israelis, must now hate him very much. So he will have to [stay here and] serve me forever.”

Achish trusted David, and said to himself, “He's made himself so offensive to his people the Israelites that he'll have to serve me forever.”