1David said in his heart, "Now I will be swept away one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing good for me except that I surely escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up on searching for me any more in all the territory of Israel, and I will slip away from his hand."
2So David rose, he and six hundred men who were with him, and passed over to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
3David dwelled with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each man and his house, David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
4It was told to Saul that David had fled to Gath, and he did not continue any longer to search for him.
5David said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities of the field, and let me dwell there; and why should your slave dwell in the city of the kingdom with you?"
6Achish gave him Ziklag on that day; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this day.
7The number of the days that David dwelled in the field of the Philistines was a span of days and four months.
8David and his men went up and plundered the Geshurites, the Gizrites, and the Amalekites, for they were dwelling in the land, from of old, as you come toward Shur, and as far as the land of Egypt.
9David struck the land, and he did not let a man or a woman live, and he took flock and cattle and donkeys and camels and garments, and returned and came to Achish.
10Achish said, "Where did you raid today?" David said, "Against the South of Judah, and against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites."
11David did not let a man or a woman live, to bring them to Gath, saying, "Lest they tell on us, saying, 'Thus David has done, and thus is his manner all the days that he has dwelled in the field of the Philistines.'"
12Achish believed in David, saying, "Surely he has made himself stink among his people, among Israel, and he will be a slave to me forever."