⁵Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

⁶So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag,^p and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. ⁷David lived^q in Philistine territory a year and four months.

⁸Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites,^r the Girzites and the Amalekites.^s (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur^t and Egypt.) ⁹Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive,^u but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.

¹⁰When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel^v” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.^w” ¹¹He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’ ” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory. ¹²Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious^x to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for life.^y”

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Cross references

p Jos 15:31; 19:5; 1 Sa 30:1; 1 Ch 12:20; Ne 11:28
q 1 Sa 29:3
rSee Jos 12:5
sSee Ex 17:14; See 1 Sa 14:48; 30:1; 2 Sa 1:8; 8:12
tSee Ge 16:7
uSee 1 Sa 15:3
v 1 Sa 30:29
w Jdg 1:16
xSee Ge 34:30
y 1 Sa 29:6