1 Samuel 30
30
David rescues his soldiers' families
1It took David and his men three days to reach Ziklag. But while they had been away, the Amalekites had been raiding in the desert around there. They had attacked Ziklag, burnt it to the ground, 2and had taken away the women and children. 3When David and his men came to Ziklag, they saw the burnt out ruins and learnt that their families had been taken captive. 4They started crying and kept it up until they were too weak to cry any more. 5David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, had been taken captive with everyone else.#1 S 25.42,43.
6David was desperate. His soldiers were so upset over what had happened to their sons and daughters that they were thinking about stoning David to death. But he felt the LORD God giving him strength, 7and he said to the priest, “Abiathar, let's ask God what to do.”#1 S 22.20-23.
Abiathar brought everything he needed to get answers from God, and he went over to David. 8Then David asked the LORD, “Should I go after the people who raided our town? Can I catch up with them?”
“Go after them,” the LORD answered. “You will catch up with them, and you will rescue your families.”
9-10David led his six hundred men to Besor Gorge, but two hundred of them were too tired to go across. So they stayed behind, while David and the other four hundred men crossed the gorge.
11Some of David's men found an Egyptian out in a field and took him to David. They gave the Egyptian some bread, and he ate it. Then they gave him a drink of water, 12some dried figs, and two handfuls of raisins. This was the first time in three days he had tasted food or water. Now he felt much better.
13“Who is your master?” David asked. “And where do you come from?”
“I'm from Egypt,” the young man answered. “I'm the servant of an Amalekite, but he left me here three days ago because I was sick. 14We had attacked some towns in the desert where the Cherethites live, in the area that belongs to Judah, and in the desert where the Caleb clan lives. And we burnt down Ziklag.”
15“Will you take me to those Amalekites?” David asked.
“Yes, I will, if you promise with God as a witness that you won't kill me or hand me over to my master.”
16He led David to the Amalekites. They were eating and drinking everywhere, celebrating because of what they had taken from Philistia and Judah. 17David attacked just before sunrise the next day and fought until sunset.#30.17 just…sunset: Or “at dusk, and fought until sunset on the next day.” Four hundred Amalekites rode away on camels, but they were the only ones who escaped.
18David rescued his two wives and everyone else the Amalekites had taken from Ziklag. 19No one was missing—young or old, sons or daughters. David brought back everything that had been stolen, 20including their livestock.
David also took the sheep and cattle that the Amalekites had with them, but he kept these separate from the others. Everyone agreed that these would be David's reward.
21On the way back, David went to the two hundred men he had left at Besor Gorge, because they had been too tired to keep up with him. They came towards David and the people who were with him. When David was close enough, he greeted the two hundred men and asked how they were doing.
22Some of David's men were good-for-nothings, and they said, “Those men didn't go with us to the battle, so they don't get any of the things we took back from the Amalekites. Let them take their wives and children and go!”
23But David said:
My friends, don't be so greedy with what the LORD has given us! The LORD protected us and gave us victory over the people who attacked. 24Who would pay attention to you, anyway? Soldiers who stay behind to guard the camp get as much as those who go into battle.
25David made this a law for Israel, and it has been the same ever since.
26David went back to Ziklag with everything they had taken from the Amalekites. He sent some of these things as gifts to his friends who were leaders of Judah, and he told them, “We took these things from the LORD's enemies. Please accept them as a gift.”
27-31This is a list of the towns where David sent gifts: Bethel,#30.27-31 Bethel: Or “Bethuel” (see Joshua 19.4). Ramoth in the Southern Desert, Jattir, Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, Racal, the towns belonging to the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites, Hormah, Bor-Ashan, Athach, and Hebron. He also sent gifts to the other towns where he and his men had travelled.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Samuel 30
30
David Defeats the Amalekites
1And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amal´ekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; 2and had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. 3So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. 4Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5#1 Sam 25.42,43. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahin´o-am the Jez´reelitess, and Ab´igail the wife of Nabal the Car´melite. 6And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
7 #
1 Sam 22.20-23. And David said to Abi´athar the priest, Ahim´elech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abi´athar brought thither the ephod to David. 8And David inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. 9So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. 10But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
11And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; 12and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. 13And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amal´ekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. 14We made an invasion upon the south of the Cher´ethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. 15And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
16And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 17And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. 18And David recovered all that the Amal´ekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. 19And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all. 20And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
21And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them. 22Then answered all the wicked men, and men of Be´li-al, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. 23Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. 24For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. 25And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
26And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord; 27to them which were in Beth–el, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir, 28and to them which were in Aro´er, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemo´a, 29and to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerah´meelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, 30and to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chor–ash´an, and to them which were in Athach, 31and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.