1 Samuel 30
David Defeats the
Amalekites |
1 |
And it came to pass, when David and his
men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amal'ekites had
invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it
with fire;
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2 |
and had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but
carried them away, and went on their way.
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3 |
So David and his men came to the city,
and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and
their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
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4 |
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had
no more power to weep.
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5 |
And David's two wives were taken
captives, Ahin'o-am the Jez'reelitess, and Ab'igail the wife of
Nabal the Car'melite. 1 Sam. 25.42, 43
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6 |
And David was greatly distressed; for the
people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was
grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David
encouraged himself in the LORD his
God.
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7 |
And David said to Abi'athar 1 Sam.
22.20-23 the priest, Ahim'elech's son, I pray thee, bring
me hither the ephod. And Abi'athar brought thither the ephod to
David.
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8 |
And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I
overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely
overtake them, and without fail recover all.
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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.
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10 |
But David pursued, he and four hundred
men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they
could not go over the brook Besor.
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11 |
And they found an Egyptian in the
field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat;
and they made him drink water;
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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 drunk any water, three days and three nights.
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13 |
And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amal'ekite; and my
master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.
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14 |
We made an invasion upon the south
of the Cher'ethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we
burned Ziklag with fire.
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15 |
And David said to him, Canst thou bring
me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that
thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my
master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
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16 |
And when he had brought him down,
behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, 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.
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17 |
And David smote them from the twilight
even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man
of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and
fled.
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18 |
And David recovered all that the
Amal'ekites had carried away: and David rescued his two
wives.
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19 |
And there was nothing lacking to them,
neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil,
nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered
all.
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20 |
And David took all the flocks and the
herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and
said, This is David's spoil.
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21 |
And David came to the two hundred men,
which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had
made also 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.
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22 |
Then answered all the wicked men, and men of Be'li-al, of those that went with David, and said,
Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of
the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his
children, that they may lead them away, and depart.
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23 |
Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my
brethren, with that which the LORD hath given
us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came
against us into our hand.
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24 |
For who will hearken unto you in this
matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they
shall part alike.
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25 |
And it was so from that day
forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto
this day.
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26 |
And when David came to Ziklag, he sent
of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends,
saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the
LORD;
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27 |
to them which were in
Beth-el, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and
to them which were in Jattir,
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28 |
and to them which were in
Aro'er, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemo'a,
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29 |
and to them which were in
Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the
Jerah'meelites, and to them which were in the cities
of the Kenites,
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30 |
and to them which were in
Hormah, and to them which were in Chor-ash'an, and to them which were in Athach,
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31 |
and to them which were in
Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were
wont to haunt.
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