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¹ And it comes to pass, in the coming in of David and his men to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites have pushed toward the south, and to Ziklag, and strike Ziklag, and burn it with fire,² and they take the women who [are] in it captive; they have not put anyone to death from small to great, and they lead [them] away, and go on their way.³ And David comes in—and his men—to the city, and behold, [it is] burned with fire, and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters have been taken captive.⁴ And David lifts up—and the people who [are] with him—their voice and weep, until they have no power to weep.⁵ And the two wives of David have been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite;⁶ and David has great distress, for the people have said to stone him, for the soul of all the people has been bitter, each for his sons and for his daughters; and David strengthens himself in his God YHWH.

⁷ And David says to Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, "Please bring the ephod near to me"; and Abiathar brings the ephod near to David,⁸ and David inquires of YHWH, saying, "I pursue after this troop—do I overtake it?" And He says to him, "Pursue, for you certainly overtake, and certainly deliver."⁹ And David goes on, he and six hundred men who [are] with him, and they come to the Brook of Besor, and those left have stood still,¹⁰ and David pursues, he and four hundred men (and two hundred men stand still who have been too faint to pass over the Brook of Besor),¹¹ and they find a man, an Egyptian, in the field, and take him to David, and give bread to him, and he eats, and they cause him to drink water,¹² and give to him a piece of a bunch of dried figs, and two bunches of raisins, and he eats, and his spirit returns to him, for he has not eaten bread nor drunk water [for] three days and three nights.¹³ And David says to him, "Whose [are] you? And where [are] you from?" And he says, "I [am] an Egyptian youth, servant to a man, an Amalekite, and my lord forsakes me, for I have been sick [for] three days,¹⁴ we pushed [to] the south of the Cherethite, and against that which [is] to Judah, and against the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire."¹⁵ And David says to him, "Do you bring me down to this troop?" And he says, "Swear to me by God [that] you do not put me to death, nor do you shut me up into the hand of my lord, and I bring you down to this troop."¹⁶ And he brings him down, and behold, they are spread out over the face of all the earth, eating, and drinking, and celebrating, with all the great spoil which they have taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.¹⁷ And David strikes them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day, and there has not escaped of them a man, except four hundred young men who have ridden on the camels and flee.¹⁸ And David delivers all that the Amalekites have taken; David has also delivered his two wives.¹⁹ And nothing of theirs has lacked, from small to great, and to sons and daughters, and from the spoil, even to all that they had taken to themselves, David has brought back the whole,²⁰ and David takes the whole of the flock and of the herd [that] they have led on before these livestock, and they say, "This [is] David's spoil."

²¹ And David comes to the two hundred men who were too faint to go after David, and whom they cause to abide at the Brook of Besor, and they go out to meet David, and to meet the people who [are] with him, and David approaches the people, and asks of them of welfare.²² And every bad and worthless man, of the men who have gone with David, answers, indeed, they say, "Because that they have not gone with us we do not give to them of the spoil which we have delivered, except each his wife and his children, and they lead away and go."²³ And David says, "You do not do so, my brothers, with that which YHWH has given to us, and He preserves us, and gives the troop which comes against us into our hand;²⁴ and who listens to you in this thing? For as the portion of him who was brought down into battle, so also [is] the portion of him who is abiding by the vessels—they share alike."²⁵ And it comes to pass from that day and forward, that he appoints it for a statute and for an ordinance for Israel to this day.²⁶ And David comes to Ziklag, and sends of the spoil to [the] elderly of Judah, to his friends, saying, "Behold, a blessing for you of the spoil of the enemies of YHWH,"²⁷ to those in Beth-El, and to those in South Ramoth, and to those in Jattir,²⁸ and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa,²⁹ and to those in Rachal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites,³⁰ and to those in Hormah, and to those in Chor-Ashan, and to those in Athach,³¹ and to those in Hebron, and to all the places where David—he and his men—had gone up and down.