1SA-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;

1SA-30:2  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.

1SA-30:3  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.

1SA-30:4  Then David and the people that [were] with him lifted

up

their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

1SA-30:5  And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the

Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

1SA-30:6  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.

1SA-30:7  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.

1SA-30:8  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].

1SA-30:9  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.

1SA-30:10  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.

1SA-30:11  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;

1SA-30:12  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.

1SA-30:13  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 ago I

fell sick.

1SA-30:14  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.

1SA-30:15  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.

1SA-30:16  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.

1SA-30:17  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.

1SA-30:18  And David recovered all that the Amalekites had

carried

away: and David rescued his two wives.

1SA-30:19  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.

1SA-30:20  And David took all the flocks and the herds, [which]

they

drave before those [other] cattle, and said, This [is] David's

spoil.

1SA-30:21  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.

1SA-30:22  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.

1SA-30:23  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.

1SA-30:24  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.

1SA-30:25  And it was [so] from that day forward, that he made

it a

statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

1SA-30:26  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;

1SA-30:27  To [them] which [were] in Bethel, and to [them] which

[were] in south Ramoth, and to [them] which [were] in Jattir,

1SA-30:28  And to [them] which [were] in Aroer, and to [them]

which

[were] in Siphmoth, and to [them] which [were] in Eshtemoa,

1SA-30:29  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,

1SA-30:30  And to [them] which [were] in Hormah, and to [them]

which

[were] in Chorashan, and to [them] which [were] in Athach,

1SA-30:31  And 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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