David Flees to the Philistines

27 Then David said to ^[a]himself, “Now I will ^[b]perish one day by the hand of Saul. ^(A)There is nothing better for me than to safely escape into the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.” ² So David set out and went over, he and ^(B)the six hundred men who were with him, to ^(C)Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³ And David lived with Achish in Gath, he and his men, ^(D)each with his own household—David with ^(E)his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s ^[c]widow. ⁴ Now it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.

⁵ Then David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your sight, have them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, so that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” ⁶ So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore ^(F)Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

^19 (A)From Manasseh some also defected to David when he was about to go to battle with the Philistines against Saul. But they did not help them, because the governors of the Philistines sent him away after consultation, saying, “At the cost of our heads he might defect to his master Saul.” ²⁰ As he was going to Ziklag, men from Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, ^[a]captains of thousands who belonged to Manasseh.

⁵ Then these men said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him regarding the ^(A)law of his God.”