1 Samuel 27
27
David Among the Philistines
1David thought, “Some day Saul will destroy me. So the best thing I can do is escape. I’ll go to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop looking for me everywhere in Israel. His hand won’t be able to reach me.”
2So David and his 600 men left Israel. They went to Achish, the king of Gath. He was the son of Maok. 3David and his men made their homes in Gath near Achish. Each of David’s men had his family with him. David had his two wives with him. They were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel. Abigail was Nabal’s widow. 4Saul was told that David had run away to Gath. So he didn’t look for David anymore.
5David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with me, give me a place in one of your country towns. I can live there. I don’t really need to live near you in the royal city.”
6So on that day Achish gave David the town of Ziklag. It has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since that time. 7David lived in Philistine territory for a year and four months.
8Sometimes David and his men would go up and attack the Geshurites. At other times they would attack the Girzites or the Amalekites. All those people had lived in the land that reached all the way to Shur and Egypt. They had been there for a long time. 9When David would attack an area, he wouldn’t leave a man or woman alive. But he would take their sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and clothes. Then he would return to Achish.
10Achish would ask, “Who did you attack today?” David would answer, “The people who live in the Negev Desert of Judah.” Or he would answer, “The people in the Negev Desert of Jerahmeel.” Or he would answer, “The people in the Negev Desert of the Kenites.” 11David wouldn’t leave a man or woman alive to be brought back to Gath. He thought, “They might tell on us. They might tell Achish who we really attacked.” That’s what David did as long as he lived in Philistine territory. 12Achish trusted David. He thought, “David’s own people, the Israelites, can’t stand him anymore. So he’ll be my servant for life.”
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1 Samuel 27: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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1 Samuel 27
27
1And 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 to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and 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 dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahino-am of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. 4And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he sought for him no more.
5Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there; for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” 6So that day Achish gave him Ziklag; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. 7And the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
8Now David and his men went up, and made raids upon 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 smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the asses, the camels, and the garments, and came back to Achish. 10When Achish asked, “Against whom#27.10 Gk Vg: Heb lacks whom 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 tidings to Gath, thinking, “Lest they should tell about us, and say, ‘So David has done.’ ” Such was his custom all the while he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. 12And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself utterly abhorred by his people Israel; therefore he shall be my servant always.”
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