1S 30:1And when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid upon the south and upon Ziklag; and they had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire.
1S 30:2And they had taken the women and all who were in it captive, both small and great; they had killed none, but had carried them off, and had gone on their way.
1S 30:3And David and his men came to the city; and there it was, burned with fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.
1S 30:4And David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no strength to weep.
1S 30:5And David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
1S 30:6And David was very distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for the soul of all the people was bitter, every man because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God.
1S 30:7And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Bring the ephod to me. So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
1S 30:8And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I pursue after this band? Will I overtake them? And He said to him, Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly deliver them.
1S 30:9So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him; and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left stayed behind.
1S 30:10And David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross over the brook Besor.
1S 30:11And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. And they gave him food, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.
1S 30:12And they gave him a piece of fig cake and two raisin cakes; and he ate, and his spirit returned to him; for he had eaten no food and had drunk no water for three days and three nights.
1S 30:13And David said to him, To whom do you belong and where are you from? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, the servant of an Amalekite man; and my master abandoned me because I fell sick three days ago.
1S 30:14We attacked the south of the Cherethites and what belongs to Judah and the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
1S 30:15And David said to him, Can you lead me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will lead you down to this troop.
1S 30:16And he led him down; and there they were, spread over the whole land, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
1S 30:17And David struck them from twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped except for four hundred young men, who rode upon camels and fled.
1S 30:18And David delivered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David delivered his two wives.
1S 30:19And nothing was missed by them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken; David brought everything back.
1S 30:20And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before the other cattle and of which they said, This is David’s spoil.
1S 30:21Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David and who had been left behind at the brook Besor. And they went forth to meet David and to meet the people who were with him; and David came near to the people and greeted them.
1S 30:22And all the wicked and worthless men among the men that had gone with David responded; and they said, Because they did not go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have delivered, except every man his wife and his children that they may lead them off and go away.
1S 30:23Then said David, You shall not do so, my brothers, with that which Jehovah has given us, who has kept us and given this band that came against us into our hand.
1S 30:24And who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.
1S 30:25And from that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
1S 30:26And David came to Ziklag, and he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his companions, saying, Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah:
1S 30:27For those in Bethel, and for those in Ramoth of the south, and for those in Jattir,
1S 30:28And for those in Aroer, and for those in Siphmoth, and for those in Eshtemoa,
1S 30:29And for those in Racal, and for those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and for those in the cities of the Kenites,
1S 30:30And for those in Hormah, and for those in Bor-ashan, and for those in Athach,
1S 30:31And for those in Hebron, and for all the places where David himself and his men had gone about.
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