1And David said in his heart, "Now one day I will end up in the hand of Saul. There is nothing good for me, for I will escape to the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me, to seek me no more in all the borders of Israel, and I will be delivered from his hand."2And David arose and crossed over—he and the six hundred men who were with him—to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.3And David dwelt with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each man with his household. David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.4And Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, and he no longer sought him.5And David said to Achish, "If now I have found divine favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the field, and I will dwell there. And why should your servant dwell in the city of the kingdom with you?"6And he gave Ziklag to him that day. Therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.7And the number of the days that David dwelt in the field of the Philistines was days and four months.8And David and his men went up, and they made raids against the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites, for behold they were sitting in the land which from eternity your coming dwells and to the land of Egypt.9And David struck the land and did not let man or woman live, and he took sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels and garments, and he turned and came to Achish.10And Achish said, "To those who had raided today?" and David said, "On the Negeb of Judah and on the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites and on the Negeb of the Kenites."11And David would not let man or woman live to bring to Gath, saying, "Lest they tell on us, saying, 'In this way David has done, and in this way his justice all the days that he has dwelt in the field of the Philistines.'"12And Achish believed David, saying, "He has made himself a stinker in his people in Israel, and he will be to me a servant forever."