The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 David thought to himself, "Sooner or later, Saul's going to get me. The best thing I can do is escape to Philistine country. Saul will count me a lost cause and quit hunting me down in every nook and cranny of Israel. I'll be out of his reach for good."
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But David kept thinking to himself, “Someday Saul is going to get me. The best thing I can do is escape to the Philistines. Then Saul will stop hunting for me in Israelite territory, and I will finally be safe.”
2 So David left; he and his six hundred men went to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.
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So David took his 600 men and went over and joined Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
3 They moved in and settled down in Gath, with Achish. Each man brought his household; David brought his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, widow of Nabal of Carmel.
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David and his men and their families settled there with Achish at Gath. David brought his two wives along with him—Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, Nabal’s widow from Carmel.
4 When Saul was told that David had escaped to Gath, he called off the hunt.
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Word soon reached Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he stopped hunting for him.
5 Then David said to Achish, "If it's agreeable to you, assign me a place in one of the rural villages. It doesn't seem right that I, your mere servant, should be taking up space in the royal city."
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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 assigned him Ziklag. (This is how Ziklag got to be what it is now, a city of the kings of Judah.)
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So Achish gave him the town of Ziklag (which still belongs to the kings of Judah to this day),
7 David lived in Philistine country a year and four months.
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and they lived there among the Philistines for a year and four months.
8 From time to time David and his men raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites - these people were longtime inhabitants of the land stretching toward Shur and on to Egypt.
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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 When David raided an area he left no one alive, neither man nor woman, but took everything else: sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, clothing - the works. Then he'd return to Achish.
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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 Achish would ask, "And whom did you raid today?"
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“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 He never left a single person alive lest one show up in Gath and report what David had really been doing. This is the way David operated all the time he lived in Philistine country.
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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 came to trust David completely. He thought, "He's made himself so repugnant to his people that he'll be in my camp forever."
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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!”
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.