27 But David thought to himself, “One of these days, I’m going to be caught off-guard by Sha’ul’s actions. There’s no future for me here, so I definitely need to slip away to the Philistines region. Then hopefully Sha’ul will give up looking for me again across all Israel, and I’ll slip be able to stay under his radar.” 2 So he left Israel and crossed over with his six hundred men to Gat and King Akish (Maok’s son). 3 Then David and his men settled with Akish in Gat. David had his two wives Ahinoam (from Yezreel) and Abigail (widow of Nabal from Carmel) with him. 4 When Sha’ul was told that David had fled to Gat, he stopped searching for him.

5 One day, David asked Akish, “If I’ve found favour in your eyes, ask them to give me a place in one of the cities in the countryside so I can live there. There’s no need for us to bludge on you here in the royal city.” 6 So Akish gave Tsiklag to David that day, and as a result, it still belongs to Yehudah’s kings until today.

7 David ended up living in the Philistine countryside for around sixteen months, 8 and during that time, he would take his men to raid the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. They had lived in that region from long before—from Shur all the way to Egypt. 9 When David attacked a place, he would take the sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes, but he didn’t leave anyone alive. Then he’d return home and visit Akish. 10 The king would ask him, “Which place did you raid today?”

David would tell him, “In southern Yehudah,” or “South of the Yerahmeelites,” or “In the southern Kenite region”. 11 David never allowed any man or woman to live to be able to go back to Gat and report on what he’d really been doing. That was how he handled things for the entire time that he lived in the Philistine countryside. 12 But King Akish was trusting David, thinking, “He’ll definitely be hated now by his people in Israel, so he’ll be forced to remain here as my servant.”