The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Samuel 30
1 When David and his men had come to
Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had
made a raid on the South and on Ziklag,
and had struck Ziklag and burned it with
fire,
2 and had taken captive the women and
all who were in it, both small and great.
They didn’t kill any, but carried them off
and went their way.
3 When David and his men came to the
city, behold, it was burned with fire; and
their wives,their sons, andtheirdaughters
were taken captive.
4 Then David and the people who were
with him lifted up their voice and wept
until they had no more power to weep.
5 David’s two wives were taken captive,
Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the
wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
6 David was greatly distressed, for the
people spoke of stoning him, because the
souls of all the people were grieved, every
man for his sons and for his daughters; but
David strengthened himself in Yahweh his
God.
7 David said to Abiathar the priest, the
son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod
here to me.”
Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
8 David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “If
I pursue after this troop, will I overtake
them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you will
surely overtake them, and will withoutfail
recover all.”
9 So David went, he and the six hundred
men who were with him, and came to the
brook Besor, where those who were left
behind stayed.
10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind,
who were so faint that they couldn’t go
over the brook Besor.
11 They found an Egyptian in the field,
and brought him to David, and gave him
bread, andhe ate; and they gavehimwater
to drink.
12 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs
and two clusters of raisins. When he had
eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he
had eaten no bread, and drank no water
for three days and three nights.
13 David asked him, “To whom do you
belong? Where are you from?”
He said, “I am a young man of Egypt,
servant to an Amalekite; and my master
left me, because three days ago I got 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 David said to him, “Will you bring me
down to this troop?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you
will not kill me and not deliver me up into
the hands of my master, and I will bring
you down to this troop.”
16 When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all
the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing,
because of all the great plunder that they
had taken out of the land of the Philistines,
and out of the land of Judah.
17 David struck them from the twilight
even to the evening of the next day. Not
a man of them escaped from there, except
four hundred young men who rode on
camels and fled.
18 David recovered all that the
Amalekites had taken, and David rescued
his two wives.
19 There was nothing lacking to them,
neither small nor great, neither sons nor
daughters, neither plunder, nor anything
that they had taken. David brought them
all back.
20 David took allthe flocks and the herds,
which they drove before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s plunder.”
21 David came to the two hundred men,
who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to
stay at the brook Besor; and they went out
to meet David, and to meet the people who
were with him. When David came near to
the people, he greeted them.
22 Then all the wicked men and worthless fellows of those who went with David
answered and said, “Because they didn’t
go with us, we will not give them anything
of the plunder that we have recovered,
except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away and
depart.”
23 Then David said, “Do 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 Who will listen to you in this matter?
For as his share is who goes down to the
battle, so shall his share be who stays with
the baggage. They shall share alike.”
25 It was so from that day forward that
he made it a statute and an ordinance for
Israel to this day.
26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent
some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, “Behold,
a present for you from the plunder of Yahweh’s enemies.”
27 He sent it to those who were in Bethel,
to those who were in Ramoth of the South,
to those who were in Jattir,
28 to those who were in Aroer, to those
who were in Siphmoth, to those who were
in Eshtemoa,
29 to those who were in Racal, to those
who were in the cities ofthe Jerahmeelites, to those who were in the cities of the Kenites,
30 to those who were in Hormah, to those
who were in Borashan, to those who were
in Athach,
31 to those who were in Hebron, and to
all the places where David himself and his
men used to stay