1 And it was, in David and his men coming in to Ziklag on the third day, so Amalekites had raided the South and Ziklag, and struck Ziklag, and burnt her in the fire. 2 And they took captive the women who were in her, from small unto great, they did not kill any. And they lead away and went on their way.
3 And David and his men came in to the city, and behold, burned in the fire. And their women and their sons and their daughters were taken captive. 4 And David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. 5 And David's two women were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, and Abigail, woman of Fool, the Carmelite. i
6 And David was very distressed, for the people said to stone him; because the soul of all the people was bitter, each over his sons and over his daughters. And David strengthened himself in Yehvah his Gods. 7 And he said to Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelek, “Please bring near to me the Ephod.” And Abiathar brought near the Ephod to David. 8 And David asked in Yehvah, saying, “Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake him?” ii And he said to him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and surely deliver.”
9 And David went, he and six hundred men who were with him. And they came to the brook Besor, and those left behind stayed. 10 And David, he and four hundred men, pursued, and two hundred, who were too faint to cross the brook Besor, stayed.
11 And they found an Egyptian man in the field, and they took him to David. And they gave to him bread, and he ate, and water to drink. 12 And they gave to him a piece of a cake of figs and two bunches of raisins, and he ate and his spirit returned iii to him; for he had not eaten bread nor drank water for 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 an Egyptian boy, servant to an Amalekite man. And my lord left me, because I became sick three days ago. 14 We had raided south of the Cherethite, iv and over where is Judah's, and over south of Caleb, and Ziklag we burned in the fire.” 15 And David said, “Will you bring me down to this troop?” And he said, “Swear to me in Gods you won't kill me and won't deliver me into my lord's hand, and I will bring you down to this troop.”
16 And he brought him down. And behold, spread out upon the face of all the land, eating and drinking and feasting in all the great spoil that they took from Philistines' land and Judah's land. 17 And David struck them from the twilight and unto the evening to their next day. And not a man escaped from them, except four hundred young men who were riding upon the camels; and they fled. 18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites took, and David recovered his two women. 19 And there was not lacking to them, from the small and unto the great, and unto sons and unto daughters, and from spoil and from all that they took for them, David brought back everything. 20 And David took all the flocks and the herds. They lead before that livestock and said, “This is David's spoil.”
21 And David came to the two hundred men who were too faint to go after David, and they dwelt there at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, and David drew near the people and asked them for peace. v 22 And all the bad men and of Belial vi from the men who went with David, answered and said, “On account that they did not go with me, vii we will not give to them from the spoil that we have obtained. Except, each his woman and his sons, and they shall lead away and go.” 23 And David said, “You shall not do thus, my brethren, with what Yehvah has given to us. And he has kept us, and given the troop that came against us into our hand. 24 And who will listen to you, to this word, for as the portion of the one who went down in the battle, so as the portion of the one who stayed by the supplies. They shall divide together.” 25 And it was, from that day and onward, he put her for a statute and for a judgment for Israel until this day.
26 And David came in to Ziklag and sent from the spoil to elders of Israel, to his friends, saying, “Behold, for you, a blessing from spoil of Yehvah's enemies.” 27 To whom was in House of God, and to whom was in south Corals, viii and to whom was in Jattir, 28 and to whom was in Aroer, and to whom was in Siphmoth, ix and to whom was in Eshtemoa, 29 and to whom was in Rachal, x and to whom was in the cities of the Jerahmeelite, and to whom was in the cities of the Cainite, xi 30 and to whom was in Hormah, xii and to whom was in Smoke Pit, xiii and to whom was in Athach, xiv 31 and to whom was in Hebron, and to all the places where David, he and his men, would go there.
Translated by Darwin Fish. See original pdf.
- י ללִלמִררְכמ) karmeliy) “Carmelite” - masculine, thus referring to Fool. See 1 Samuel 27:3 in reference to Abigail. ^
- ו גנ י ש רְאמ רְהמ) ha'assigenu) “Shall I overtake him” - “him” refers to the “troop” (masculine singular), דוד לִג) gedud). ^
- ו ב שב תב) tâshâv rucho) “his spirit returned” - see Judges 15:19 and footnote. ^
- י י ת רת לִכ) kerêtiy) “Cherethite” - found also in 2 Samuel 8:18; 15:18; 20:7, 23; 1 Kings 1:38, 44; 1 Chronicles 18:17; Ezekiel 25:16; Zephaniah 2:5. ^
- לום שב לִל) leshâlom) “for peace” - i.e. how things are going or how he's doing. ^
- ל רְרעמְימ י ל לִב) veliyya`al) “Belial” - see footnote for Deuteronomy 13:14. ^
- י ימ ע`) immiy) “with me” Green; “with us” NKJV, KJV, YLT, NAS, etc. ^
- רבמות) râmot) “Corals”; NKJV, etc. “Ramoth” - see footnote for Deuteronomy 4:43. ^
- מותִיפ ש) siphmot) “Siphmoth” - only here. ^
- רבכבל) râkhâl) “Rachal” - only here. ^
- יי קתינ) qêyniy) “Cainite” - see footnote for Genesis 15:19. ^
- ה מב לִר חב) chârmâh) “Hormah” - see footnote for Numbers 14:45. ^
- בור־עבשבן) vor-`âshân) “Smoke Pit”; “smoking pit” BDB; “Chorashan” NKJV; “Bor-ashan” NAS – only here. ן שב עב (`âshân) is “smoke” (e.g Joshua 20:40), בור) vor) or בור) bor) is “pit” (e.g. Exodus 21:34). ^
- ך תב עת`) atâkh) “Athach” - only here. ^
And they each seized his neighbor's head and his sword in his neighbor's side and fell together. And they called that place, the Plot of Rocks which is in Gibeon. -- קקחתַחםל) chelqat) “Plot” (= a plot or portion of ground, e.g. Genesis 33:19); LXX μερὶς (= part or portion e.g. 1 Samuel 30:24); NKJV, Green “Field”; YLT “Helkath” (transliteration).
And all his servants passed by his side and every Cherethite and every Pelethite and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came at his feet from Wine Press, crossing over before the king. -- “Cherethite” see 1 Samuel 30:14.