1 Samuel 27 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

David Allied with the Philistines

David and Achish

1Sa 27:1And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.”

1Sa 27:2

1Sa 27:2Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

1Sa 27:3

1Sa 27:3So David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow.

1Sa 27:4

1Sa 27:4And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more.

1Sa 27:5

1Sa 27:5Then David said to Achish, “If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”

1Sa 27:6

1Sa 27:6So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

1Sa 27:7

1Sa 27:7Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months.

1Sa 27:8

1Sa 27:8And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites,[fn] and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt.

1Sa 27:9

1Sa 27:9Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish.

1Sa 27:10

1Sa 27:10Then Achish would say, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David would say, “Against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites.”

1Sa 27:11

1Sa 27:11David would save neither man nor woman alive, to bring news to Gath, saying, “Lest they should inform on us, saying, ‘Thus David did.’ ” And thus was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the Philistines.

1Sa 27:12

1Sa 27:12So Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever.”

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(27:8)

Or Gezrites

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