1 Samuel

27 And David said to himself “Now I shall come to my end at Saul’s hands someday or other: there is nothing for it but to escape to the Philistine country and have Saul despair of getting me by looking for me any longer in all the territory of Israel, and so escape out of his hands”; 2* and over went David, he and six hundred men who were with him, to Akish the son of Maʽoc, the king of Gath. 3 And David lived at Gath with Akish, he and his men and their families, David with his two wives Ahinoʽam the Jezreʽelite and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; 4 and Saul was told that David had fled away to Gath, and he no longer looked for him.

5 And David said to Akish “Please let them give me a place to live in in one of the cities on the wolds: why should your servant live at the capital with you?” 6 And Akish that day gave him Siklag; so Siklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

7 And the length of time that David lived in the Philistine countryside was a year and four months. 8** And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the ʽAmalekites (for those were the primitive populations of the country as you come to Shur and down to Egypt); 9 and David would devastate the country, and not leave alive man or woman, and take flocks and herds and donkeys and camels and clothing. And he came back and came to Akish, 10 and Akish said “Where did you raid today?” and David said “Against the Judahite South and the Jerahmeelite South and the Cainite South.” 11 And David would leave not a man or woman alive to bring to Gath, “for fear they should tell on us.” So David did, and such was his custom, all the time he lived in the Philistine countryside. 12 And Akish had confidence in David, thinking “He has given mortal offense to his people Israel, and will be my subject always.”