1 Samuel 30:1-13 ▼

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,