1 Samuel Chapter 27 Back Next{27:1}
David said in his
heart, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should 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."
{27:2} David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to
Achish the son of
Maoch, king of
Gath.
{27:3} David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives,
Ahinoam the
Jezreelitess, and
Abigail the
Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.
{27:4} It was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.
{27:5} David 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?"
{27:6} Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: why Ziklag pertains to the kings of
Judah to this day.
{27:7} The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
{27:8} David and his men went up, and made a raid on the
Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the
Amalekites; for those were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the land of
Egypt.
{27:9} David 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.
{27:10} Achish said, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" David said, "Against the South of Judah, against the South of the
Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the
Kenites."
{27:11} David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, "Lest they should tell of us, saying, 'David this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'"
{27:12} Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever."
1 Samuel Chapter 27 Back Next