1. David said to himself, “One of these days Saul will kill me. The best thing for me to do is to escape to Philistia. Then Saul will give up looking for me in Israel, and I will be safe.”
2. So David and his 600 men went over at once to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3. David and his men settled there in Gath with their families. David had his two wives with him, Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Abigail, Nabal's widow, from Carmel.
4. When Saul heard that David had fled to Gath, he gave up trying to find him.
5. David said to Achish, “If you are my friend, let me have a small town to live in. There is no need, sir, for me to live with you in the capital city.”
6. So Achish gave him the town of Ziklag, and for this reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.
7. David lived in Philistia for sixteen months.
8. During that time David and his men would attack the people of Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek, who had been living in the region a very long time. He would raid their land as far as Shur, all the way down to Egypt,