Dovid said to himself, "Now I might perish one day at the hand of Shaul. There is nothing better for me [to do] than to escape to the land of the Philistines; for then Shaul will give up pursuing me anymore throughout Yisroel's borders, and I will have escaped from his hand."

Dovid rose and crossed over, with the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish son of Ma'och, king of Gas.

Dovid stayed with Achish in Gas, he and his men, each man with his household, Dovid with his two wives, Achinoam, the Yizre'elite and Avigayil, the Carmelite, the [former] wife of Novol.

It was told to Shaul that Dovid had fled to Gas, and he did not continue to search for him.

Dovid said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the countryside towns that I may settle there. Why should your servant remain in the royal city with you?"

So Achish gave him Tziklag on that day; therefore Tziklag belongs to the kings of Yehudah to this day.

The time that Dovid stayed in the Philistine countryside was days and four months.

Dovid and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Gizrites and the Amaleikites, for they had always dwelt in the land, in the direction of Shur to the land of Egypt.

Dovid would smite the [inhabitants of the] land, and he left no man or woman alive. He took sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and clothing, and would return and come to Achish.

Achish would ask, "Where did you raid today?" And Dovid would say, "Against the south of Yehudah," or "against the south of the Yerachme'elites," or "to the south of the Kenites."

Dovid left neither man nor woman alive to bring back [as a captive] to Gas, saying [to himself], "They might inform on us, saying, 'This is what Dovid has done and this was his custom as long as he stayed in the Philistine countryside.'"

So Achish believed Dovid, saying [to himself], "He thoroughly detests his people Yisroel, and he will remain my servant always."