David's Wives Are Captured

30 Now when David and his men came to ^(A)Ziklag on the third day, ^(B)the Amalekites had ^(C)made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire ² and taken captive the women and all^[a] who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. ³ And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. ⁴ Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. ⁵ David's ^(D)two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ⁶ And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke ^(E)of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul,^[b] each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

^7 (F)And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ^8 (G)And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this ^(H)band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake ^(I)and shall surely rescue.” ⁹ So David set out, and ^(J)the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men. ^(K)Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, ¹² and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, ^(L)his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. ^14 (M)We had made a raid against the Negeb of ^(N)the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” ¹⁵ And David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this ^(O)band.”

David Defeats the Amalekites

¹⁶ And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. ^18 (P)David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. ^(Q)David brought back all. ²⁰ David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him,^[c] and said, “This is David's spoil.”

²¹ Then David came to ^(R)the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left ^(S)at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them. ²² Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.” ²³ But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. ²⁴ Who would listen to you in this matter? ^(T)For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” ²⁵ And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.

²⁶ When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.” ²⁷ It was for those in ^(U)Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in ^(V)Jattir, ²⁸ in ^(W)Aroer, in Siphmoth, in ^(X)Eshtemoa, ²⁹ in Racal, in the cities of ^(Y)the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of ^(Z)the Kenites, ³⁰ in ^(AA)Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach, ³¹ in ^(AB)Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.

The Death of Saul

31 ^(AC)Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain ^(AD)on Mount Gilboa. ² And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down ^(AE)Jonathan and ^(AF)Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. ^3 (AG)The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. ^4 (AH)Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these ^(AI)uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, ^(AJ)for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword ^(AK)and fell upon it. ⁵ And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. ⁶ Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. ⁷ And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, ^(AL)to carry the good news ^(AM)to the house of their idols and to the people. ^10 (AN)They put his armor in the temple of ^(AO)Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of ^(AP)Beth-shan. ^11 (AQ)But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12 (AR)all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh ^(AS)and burned them there. ¹³ And they took their bones ^(AT)and buried them under ^(AU)the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and ^(AV)fasted seven days.

The Resurrection

24 ^(A)But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, ^(B)taking the spices they had prepared. ² And they found ^(C)the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, ^(D)two ^(E)men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵ And as they were ^(F)frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, ^(G)while he was still in Galilee, ^7 (H)that the Son of Man ^(I)must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and ^(J)be crucified and on ^(K)the third day rise.” ⁸ And ^(L)they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they ^(M)told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was ^(N)Mary Magdalene and ^(O)Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹ but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and ^(P)they did not believe them. ¹² But ^(Q)Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw ^(R)the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³ That very day ^(S)two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ^16 (T)But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was ^(U)a prophet ^(V)mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and ^(W)how our chief priests and ^(X)rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was ^(Y)the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now ^(Z)the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. ^(AA)They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and ^(AB)when they did not find his body, they came back saying that ^(AC)they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ^24 (AD)Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ^26 (AE)Was it not necessary that ^(AF)the Christ should suffer these things and enter into ^(AG)his glory?” ²⁷ And ^(AH)beginning with ^(AI)Moses and ^(AJ)all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. ^(AK)He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and ^(AL)the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and ^(AM)blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ^31 (AN)And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And ^(AO)he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, ^(AP)“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he ^(AQ)opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they ^(AR)found the eleven and ^(AS)those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and ^(AT)has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and ^(AU)how he was known to them in ^(AV)the breaking of the bread.