1Then David said to himself, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape at once to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer in all the territory of Israel, and so I shall escape out of his hand.”2So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.3And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.4And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.5Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let them allot me a place in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”6So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.7The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.8Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt.9And David would strike the land and leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel. Then he would return to Achish.10When Achish asked, “Where have you made a raid today?” David would say, “Against the Negeb of Judah, or against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites, or against the Negeb of the Kenites.”11And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “Lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’” Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines.12And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself utterly abhorrent to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”