KJ3 Literal Translation
1 Samuel 27
Saul learns David is in Gath and no longer seeks him. David begs Ziklag of Achish. He strikes other lands. Achish thinks it was Judah.
1And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. Nothing is better for me than that slipping away I should slip away to the land of the Philistines. And Saul will despair of me, to still seek me in all the border of Israel, and I shall slip away out of his hand.
2And David rose up and crossed over, he and six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
3And David lived with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each man and his household: David and his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the former wife of Nabal of Carmel.
4And it was told to Saul that David had fled to Gath, and he did not seek for him any more.
5And David said to Achish, Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, they shall give to me a place in one of the cities of the field, and I shall live there. Yea, why should your servant live in the city of the kingdom with you?
6And Achish gave Ziklag to him in that day. Therefore, Ziklag has been counted to the kings of Judah until this day.
7And the number of days which David lived in the field of the Philistines was a year of days and four months.
8And David and his men went up and made a raid to the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites. For they were the ones living in the land which were from the past, as you come into Shur and into the land of Egypt.
9And David struck the land, and did not let live man, or woman, and took sheep, and oxen, and asses, and camels, and garments, and turned back and returned to Achish.
10And Achish said, Did you not make raids today? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and to the south of the Kenites.
11David did not let live man or woman to bring news to Gath, saying, Lest they speak against us, saying, So David has done; And so has been his custom all the days that he has lived in the fields of the Philistines.
12And Achish trusted David, saying, Surely he has made himself to be hated among his people in Israel, and has become my servant forever.
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