1 Samuel 30
The Same Share for Those Who Stayed with the Baggage
← 1 Samuel 29 · 1 Samuel: all chapters · 1 Samuel 31 →
Ziklag Burned and the Captives Taken
30:1When David and his men entered Ziklag on the third day, Amalek had attacked the south and Ziklag, struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire.
30:2The women and everything in it, from small to great—they killed neither man nor woman, but took them captive and went on their way.
30:3David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire. Their wives, sons and daughters had been taken captive.
30:4David and his men raised their voices and wept until they no longer had strength to weep.
30:5Both David’s wives had been taken captive: Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
30:6David was greatly afflicted, for the people spoke of stoning him. The soul of all the people was in anguish, each over his sons and daughters. But David was strengthened in the Lord his God.
David Inquires and Pursues
30:7David said to Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, “Bring the ephoud.”
30:8David inquired through the Lord, “Shall I pursue this geddour? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake and certainly rescue.”
30:9David went, he and the six hundred men with him. They came to the Bosor torrent, and those remaining stood still.
30:10He pursued with four hundred men. Two hundred men stayed behind, who sat beyond the Bosor torrent.
The Egyptian in the Field
30:11They found an Egyptian man in a field, took him, and brought him to David in a field. They gave him bread, and he ate; they gave him water to drink.
30:12They gave him a piece of fruit cake, and he ate. His spirit settled within him, for he had eaten no bread and drunk no water for three days and three nights.
30:13David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” The Egyptian youth said, “I am a slave of an Amalekite man. My master left me because I fell ill; today is the third day.
30:14We attacked the south of Cholthi, the regions of Judea, and the south of Cheloub. We burned Ziklag with fire.”
30:15David said to him, “Will you take me down to this geddour?” He said, “Please swear to me by God that you will neither put me to death nor hand me over into my master’s hands, and I will take you down to this geddour.”
The Recovery of All
30:16He took him down there, and there they were, scattered over the whole land, eating, drinking and celebrating with all the great spoils they had taken from the land of the foreigners and the land of Judah.
30:17David came upon them and struck them from daybreak until evening, and on the following day. No man among them was saved except four hundred youths who had mounted camels and fled.
30:18David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and he rescued both his wives.
30:19Nothing belonging to them was missing, from small to great, from the spoils to sons and daughters and everything they had taken from them. David brought it all back.
30:20David took all the flocks and herds and led them ahead of the spoils. Concerning those spoils it was said, “These are David’s spoils.”
The Rule for Dividing the Spoil
30:21David came to the two hundred men who had grown too weak to follow David and whom he had seated at the Bosor torrent. They came out to meet David and the people with him. David approached the people, and they asked him about his welfare.
30:22Every pestilent and evil man among the warriors who had gone with David answered. They said, “Because they did not pursue with us, we will give them none of the spoils we rescued. Let each take only his wife and children and return.”
30:23David said, “You must not do this, after the Lord has given to us and guarded us. The Lord delivered into our hands the geddour that came against us.
30:24Who would listen to these words of yours? For they are no less than you. As is the share of the one who goes down into war, so shall be the share of the one who stays with the equipment. They shall share equally.”
30:25From that day onward, it became a command and a rule for Israel, until today.
The Gifts to the Elders of Judah
30:26David came to Ziklag and sent some of the spoils to the elders of Judah and to his neighbors, saying, “Look, from the spoils of the Lord’s enemies.”
30:27He sent it to those in Beth-zur, Ramah of the south and Jeththor;
30:28to those in Aroer, to the Ammadi, and to those in Saphi and Esthie;
30:28ato those in Gath, Kinan, Saphek and Thimath;
30:29to those in Carmel, the cities of the Ierameli, and the cities of the Kenezi;
30:30to those in Ierimouth, Beer-sheba and Noo;
30:31to those in Hebron, and to all the places through which David and his men had passed.
← 1 Samuel 29 · 1 Samuel: all chapters · 1 Samuel 31 →
Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.