I Samuel Chapter 30

I Samuel 30 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1By the time David and his men arrived in Ziklag, on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negeb and against Ziklag; they had stormed Ziklag and burned it down.
2. 2They had taken the women in it captive, low-born and high-born alike; they did not kill any, but carried them off and went their way.
3. 3When David and his men came to the town and found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive,
4. 4David and the troops with him broke into tears, until they had no strength left for weeping.
5. 5David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail wife of Nabal from Carmel.
6. 6David was in great danger, for the troops threatened to stone him; for all the troops were embittered on account of their sons and daughters. But David sought strength in the E TERNAL his God.
7. 7David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring the ephod up to me.” When Abiathar brought up the ephod to David,
8. 8David inquired of G OD , “Shall I pursue those raiders? Will I overtake them?” The reply came, “Pursue, for you shall overtake and you shall rescue.”
9. 9So David and the six hundred men with him set out, and they came to the Wadi Besor, where a halt was made by those who were to be left behind.
10. 10David continued the pursuit with four hundred men; two hundred men had halted, too faint to cross the Wadi Besor.
11. 11In the open country, they came upon an Egyptian—and brought him to David. They gave him food to eat and water to drink;
12. 12he was also given a piece of pressed fig cake and two cakes of raisins. He ate and regained his strength, for he had eaten no food and drunk no water for three days and three nights.
13. 13Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong and where are you from?” “I am an Egyptian lad,” he answered, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I fell ill three days ago.
14. 14We had raided the Negeb of the Cherethites, and [the Negeb] of Judah, and the Negeb of Caleb; we also burned down Ziklag.”
15. 15And David said to him, “Can you lead me down to that band?” He replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into my master’s hands, and I will lead you down to that band.”
16. 16So he led him down, and there they were, scattered all over the ground, eating and drinking and making merry because of all the vast spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17. 17David attacked them from before dawn until the evening of the next day; none of them escaped, except four hundred young men who mounted camels and got away.
18. 18David rescued everything the Amalekites had taken; David also rescued his two wives.
19. 19Nothing of theirs was missing—young or old, sons or daughters, spoil or anything else that had been carried off—David recovered everything.
20. 20David took all the flocks and herds, which [the troops] drove ahead of the other livestock; and they declared, “This is David’s spoil.”
21. 21When David reached the two hundred men who were too faint to follow David and who had been left at the Wadi Besor, they came out to welcome David and the troops with him; David came forward with the troops and greeted them.
22. 22But all the mean and churlish ones among the men who had accompanied David spoke up, “Since they did not accompany us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we seized—except that each may take his wife and children and go.”
23. 23David, however, spoke up, “You must not do that, my brothers, in view of what G OD has granted us, guarding us and delivering into our hands the band that attacked us.
24. 24How could anyone agree with you in this matter? The share of those who remain with the baggage shall be the same as the share of those who go down to battle; they shall share alike.”
25. 25So from that day on it was made a fixed rule for Israel, continuing to the present day.
26. 26When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah [and] to his friends, saying, “This is a present for you from our spoil of G OD ’s enemies.”
27. 27[He sent the spoil to the elders] in Bethel, Ramoth-negeb, and Jattir;
28. 28in Aroer, Siphmoth, and Eshtemoa;
29. 29in Racal, in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, and in the towns of the Kenites;
30. 30in Hormah, Bor-ashan, and Athach;
31. 31and to those in Hebron—all the places where David and his men had roamed.

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