Chapter 30 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, 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.
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.
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept,
until they had no more power to weep.
And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitus, and Abigail the
wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We made an invasion upon the south of the Charithites, and upon the coast which
belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.
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.
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.
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.
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David
rescued his two wives.
And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor
daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken to them.
David recovered all.
And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they draved before those
other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
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, 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 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.
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.
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.
And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance
for Israel unto this day.
And when David came to Ziklag, he sent unto 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
Places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.