| Chapter
30 |
| 1 | And it
came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that
the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and
burned it with fire; |
| 2 |
And 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. |
| 3 | So 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. |
|
4 | Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their
voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. |
| 5 | And David's two wives were taken
captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the
Carmelite. |
| 6 | And 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 | And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's
son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the
ephod to David. |
| 8 | And
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. |
|
9 | So 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. |
| 10 | But 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. |
| 11
| And 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; |
| 12 | And 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. |
| 13 | And 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 Amalekite; and my master left me, because
three days agone I fell sick. |
| 14
| We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the
coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned
Ziklag with fire. |
| 15 | And
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. |
| 16 | And 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. |
|
17 | And 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. |
| 18 | And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried
away: and David rescued his two wives. |
| 19 | And 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. |
| 20 | And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they
drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil. |
| 21 | And 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. |
| 22 | Then
answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David,
and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the
spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that
they may lead them away, and depart. |
|
23 | Then 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. |
|
24 | For 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. |
| 25 |
And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an
ordinance for Israel unto this day. |
|
26 | And 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; |
|
27 | To them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south
Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir, |
| 28 | And to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were
in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa, |
|
29 | And to them which were in Rachal, and to them which
were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities
of the Kenites, |
| 30 | And
to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chorashan, and to them
which were in Athach, |
| 31 |
And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and
his men were wont to haunt. |
