1David said in his heart, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me except that I escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand." 2David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3So David lived with Achish, he and his men, along with his men and their families, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. 4Now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.

5David said to Achish, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" 6So he gave him Ziklag that day. (For that reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.) 7The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

8Now David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Amalekites. And look, the land was inhabited from Telem, until you come to Shur, and on toward Egypt. 9David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the cattle, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish. 10Achish said, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negev of Judah,"or "Against the Negev of the Jerahmeel, "or"Against the Negev of the Kenites." 11And neither man nor woman would he leave alive to be brought to Gath, thinking, "Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, ‘This is what David did,’ and this has been his practice all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines." 12Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever."