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¹ And it came to pass, when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South, and on Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire,² and had taken captive the women that were therein, both small and great: they did not slay any, but carried them off, and went their way.³ And when David and his men came to the city, look, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive.⁴ Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.⁵ And David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.⁶ And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.

⁷ And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray you, bring the ephod here to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod there to David.⁸ And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for you shall surely overtake [them], and without fail shall recover [all].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.¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.¹¹ And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.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 drank any water, three days and three nights.¹³ And David said to him, To whom do you belong? and where are you from? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, slave to an Amalekite; and this is now the third day since my master left me because I was sick.¹⁴ We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.¹⁵ And David said to him, Will you bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God, that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.¹⁶ And when he had brought him down, look, they were spread abroad over all the ground, 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.¹⁷ And David smote them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day: and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled.¹⁸ And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives.¹⁹ And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David brought back all.²⁰ And David took all the flocks and the herds, [which] they drove before those [other] cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.

²¹ And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made 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.²² Then all the wicked men and base fellows, of those that went with David, answered and said, Because they didn't go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his sons, that he may lead them away, and depart.²³ Then said David, You shall not do so, my brothers, with that which Yahweh has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand.²⁴ And who will listen to you in this matter? for as his share is that goes down to the battle, so shall his share be that tarries by the baggage: they shall share alike.²⁵ And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.²⁶ And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to [each one of] his friends, saying, Look, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh:²⁷ To those that were in Bethuel, and to those that were in Ramoth of the South, and to those that were in Jattir,²⁸ and to those that were in Arad, and to those that were in Siphmoth, and to those that were in Eshtemoa,²⁹ and to those that were in Racal, and to those that were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those that were in the cities of the Kenites,³⁰ and to those that were in Hormah, and to those that were in Bor-ashan, and to those that were in Athach,³¹ and to those that were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to roam.