1 Samuel 30

Revised Geneva Translation

30 But when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had invaded in the South, to Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag and burnt it with fire

² and had taken the women, who were prisoners there, both small and great. They had not killed any man but had carried them away, and had gone their ways.

³ So David and his men came to the city. And behold, it was burnt with fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken prisoners.

⁴ Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they could weep no more.

⁵ David’s two wives had been taken prisoners also, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

⁶ And David was in great sorrow. For the people intended to stone him because the hearts of all the people were troubled, each man’s for his sons and for his daughters. But David comforted himself in the LORD his God.

⁷ And David said to Abiathar the Priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring me the ephod.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

⁸ Then David asked counsel of the LORD, saying, “Shall I follow after this company? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Follow. For you shall surely overtake them and recover all.”

⁹ So David and the six hundred men who were with him went, and came to the river Besor, where some of them stayed.

¹⁰ But David and four hundred men pursued (for two hundred stayed behind, being too weary to go over the river Besor).

¹¹ And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread, and he ate. And they gave him water to drink.

¹² Also, they gave him a few figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came back to him. For he had eaten no bread or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

¹³ And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And from where do you come?” And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, and servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me three days ago because I fell sick.

¹⁴ “We raided the South of Chereth, and upon the territory belonging to Judah, and upon the South of Caleb. And we burnt Ziklag with fire.”

¹⁵ And David said to him, “Can you bring me to this company?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you to this company.”

¹⁶ And when he had brought him there, behold, they lay scattered all over 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.

¹⁷ And David struck them from the twilight until the evening of the next day, so that there did not escape a man from them, except four hundred young men who rode upon camels and fled.

¹⁸ And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken. Also, David rescued his two wives.

¹⁹ And they lacked nothing, small or great, son or daughter, or of the plunder of all that they had taken away. David recovered them all.

²⁰ David also took all the sheep and the oxen. And they drove them before his cattle, and said, “This is David’s spoil!”

²¹ And David came to the two hundred men who were too weary to follow David, whom they had also made stay at the river Besor. And they came to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. So when David came near to the people, he greeted them.

²² Then all the evil and wicked of the men who went with David answered, and said, “Because they did not go with us, therefore will we give them none of the spoil that we have recovered, except each man’s wife and children. Therefore, let them carry them away and depart.”

²³ Then David said, “You shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD has given us, Who has preserved us and delivered the company that came against us into our hands.

²⁴ “For who will obey you in this matter? But just as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who waits by the stuff. They shall share alike.”

²⁵ So, from that day forward, he made it a statute and a law in Israel, until this day.

²⁶ Therefore, when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah and to his friends, saying, “Behold, a blessing for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD.”

²⁷ He sent to them of Bethel, and to them of South Ramoth, and to them of Jattir,

²⁸ and to them of Aroer, and to them of Siphmoth, and to them of Eshtemoa,

²⁹ and to them of Rachal, and to them of the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them of the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰ and to them of Hormah, and to them of Chorashan, and to them of Athach,

³¹ and to them of Hebron, and to all the places where David and his men had walked.