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¹ Now whan Dauid came to Siclag on the thirde daie with his men, the Amalechites had falle in on ye south parte and at Siclag, and had smytten Siclag, and burned it with fyre,² and had caried a waye the weme out of it, both small & greate. Neuertheles they had slayne no man, but dryuen the thence, and were goynge on their waye.³ Now whan Dauid with his men came to the cite, and sawe that it was brent wt fyre, and that their wyues, sonnes & doughters were led awaye captyue,⁴ Dauid and the people that was with him lefte vp their voyce, and wepte so longe tyll they coulde wepe nomore.⁵ For Dauids two wyues also were caried awaye captyue, Ahinoam ye Iesraelitisse, and Abigail Nabals wife of Carmel.⁶ And Dauid was very soroufull, for the people wolde haue stoned him: for ye soule of all the people was in greate heuynes, euery one ouer his sonnes and doughters. Neuertheles Dauid strengthed him selfe in the LORDE his God,

⁷ & sayde vnto Abiathar ye prest the sonne of Ahimelech: Bringe me hither the ouerbody cote. And whan Abiathar had broughte the ouerbody cote vnto Dauid,⁸ Dauid axed at the LORDE, and sayde: Shal I folowe vpon the men of warre, and shal I ouertake them? He sayde: Yee, folowe vpo them, thou shalt ouertake them, and shalt rescue the pray.⁹ Then wente Dauid his waye, and the sixe hudreth men that were with him. And whan they came to the ryuer of Besor, some stode styll.¹⁰ But Dauid and the foure hundreth men folowed after: As for the two hudreth men that stode styll, they had bene slowe to go ouer the ryuer of Besor.¹¹ And they founde a man of Egipte vpon the felde, him they broughte vnto Dauid, & gaue him bred to eate, and water to drynke,¹² and gaue him a quantite of fygges, & two quantities of rasyns. And whan he had eaten, his sprete came to him againe: for in thre dayes and thre nightes he had eate no bred, and dronke no water.¹³ Dauid sayde vnto him: Whose art thou? & whence art thou? He sayde: I am a childe of Egipte, an Amalechites seruaunt, & my master hath forsaken me, because I was sicke thre dayes a goo.¹⁴ We fell her in towarde ye south syde of Chrethus, and vpon Iuda, and towarde ye south parte of Caleb, & haue burned Siclag with fyre.¹⁵ Dauid sayde vnto him: Wilt thou bringe me downe to these men of warre? He sayde: Sweare vnto me by God, yt thou shalt not slaye me, ner delyuer me in to my masters hade, and I wil brynge the downe to these me of warre.¹⁶ And he broughte the downe, and beholde, they were scatred vpon all ye grounde, eatinge and drynkynge, and kepynge holy daye, and were makinge mery chere, because of all the greate spoyles that they had taken out of the londe of the Philistynes and of Iuda.¹⁷ And Dauid smote them from ye morow tyll the euen, agaynst the nexte daye, so that there escaped none, excepte foure hundreth yonge men, which rode vpon camels, & fled.¹⁸ So Dauid rescued all that the Amalechites had taken, and his two wyues,¹⁹ & there myssed nothinge, nether small ner greate, nether sonnes ner doughters, ner spoyles: and what so euer they had taken, Dauid broughte all agayne.²⁰ And Dauid toke the shepe and oxe, and droue ye catell before him. And they sayde: This is Dauids spoyle.

²¹ And whan Dauid came to the two hundreth men, which had bene slowe to folowe after Dauid, and abode at the ryuer of Besor, they wente forth to mete Dauid, and the people yt was with him. And Dauid came to the people, and saluted them frendly.²² Then answered soch men as were euell & Belials men (amonge them that had gone with Dauid) and sayde: Seynge they wente not wt vs, they shal haue none of the spoyles that we haue rescued: but let euery ma take his wife & his children and be goynge.²³ Then sayde Dauid: Ye shall not do so (my brethren) with that which ye LORDE hath geuen vs, and hath preserued vs, and delyuered these men of warre (which were come agaynst vs) in to oure hades.²⁴ Who shulde cosente vnto you herin? like as the porcion is of them that wente downe to the battayll, so shal ye porcion be of them also that a bode wt the stuffe, & shalbe deuyded a lyke.²⁵ From that tyme forth hath this bene an ordinaunce & lawe in Israel vnto this daye.²⁶ And whan Dauid came to Siclag, he sent of the spoyle vnto the Elders in Iuda his neghbours, and sayde: Beholde, there haue ye the blessynge out of the spoyle of the enemies of the LORDE,²⁷ namely vnto them of Bethel, vnto them at Ramath in the south, vnto them at Iathir,²⁸ vnto them at Aroer, vnto them at Siphamoth, vnto them at Eschemoa,²⁹ vnto them at Rachal, vnto them in the cities of the Ierahmielites, vnto them in the cities of the Kenites,³⁰ vnto them at Horma, vnto the at Borasan, vnto the at Atach,³¹ vnto them at Hebron, and vnto all the places where Dauid had walked wt his men.