Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

1 Samuel 27
⁴ Word soon reached Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he stopped hunting for him.
⁵ One day David said to Achish, “If it is all right with you, we would rather live in one of the country towns instead of here in the royal city.”
⁶ So Achish gave him the town of Ziklag (which still belongs to the kings of Judah to this day),
⁷ and they lived there among the Philistines for a year and four months.
⁸ David and his men spent their time raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—people who had lived near Shur, toward the land of Egypt, since ancient times.
⁹ David did not leave one person alive in the villages he attacked. He took the sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing before returning home to see King Achish.
¹⁰ “Where did you make your raid today?” Achish would ask. And David would reply, “Against the south of Judah, the Jerahmeelites, and the Kenites.”
¹¹ No one was left alive to come to Gath and tell where he had really been. This happened again and again while he was living among the Philistines.
¹² Achish believed David and thought to himself, “By now the people of Israel must hate him bitterly. Now he will have to stay here and serve me forever!”
1 Samuel 28
¹ About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with Israel. King Achish told David, “You and your men will be expected to join me in battle.”
² “Very well!” David agreed. “Now you will see for yourself what we can do.” Then Achish told David, “I will make you my personal bodyguard for life.”