| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 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.” | 1David thought to himself, "One of these days I'm going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand." |
| 2Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. | 2So David left and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath accompanied by his six hundred men. |
| 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. | 3David settled with Achish in Gath, along with his men and their families. David had with him his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal's widow. |
| 4And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more. | 4When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he did not mount a new search for him. |
| 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?” | 5David said to Achish, "If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?" |
| 6So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. | 6So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (For that reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this very day.) |
| 7Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months. | 7The length of time that David lived in the Philistine countryside was a year and four months. |
| 8And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, 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. | 8Then David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They had been living in that land for a long time, from the approach to Shur as far as the land of Egypt.) |
| 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. | 9When David would attack a district, he would leave neither man nor woman alive. He would take sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing and would then go back to Achish. |
| 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.” | 10When Achish would ask, "Where did you raid today?" David would say, "The Negev of Judah" or "The Negev of Jeharmeel" or "The Negev of the Kenites." |
| 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. | 11Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, "This way they can't tell on us, saying, 'This is what David did.'" Such was his practice the entire time that he lived in the country of the Philistines. |
| 12So Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever.” | 12So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself, "He is really hated among his own people in Israel! From now on he will be my servant." |
|
