¹ And it came to pass, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that, the Amalekites, had made a raid into the South, and into Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;

² and had taken captive the women and all who were therein, from small even unto great, they had not put one to death,—but had driven them forth, and gone their way.

³ So, when David and his men came to the city, lo! it was burnt with fire,—and, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, had been taken captive.

⁴ Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice, and wept,—until they had no more strength to weep.

⁵ And, the two wives of David, had been taken captive,—Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

⁶ And David was in sore distress, for the people had spoken of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were embittered, every man for his own sons and for his own daughters,—but David emboldened himself in Yahweh his God.

⁷ Then said David to Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, Do bring near me, I pray thee, the ephod. So Abiathar brought near the ephod, unto David.

⁸ And David enquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? shall I overtake it? And he said unto him: Pursue, for thou shalt, overtake, and thou shalt, rescue.

⁹ So David went, he, and the six hundred men, who were with him, and they came in as far as the ravine of Besor,—where, they who had to be left behind, stayed.

¹⁰ But David pursued, he. and four hundred men,—but the two hundred men stayed, because they were too wearied to cross over the ravine of Besor.

¹¹ And they found an Egyptian in the field, and took him unto David,—and gave him food, and he did eat, and they gave him water to drink;

¹² and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two cakes of raisins, and, when he had eaten, his spirit came back unto him,—for he had neither eaten food, nor drunk water, three days and three nights.

¹³ Then David said to him—Whose art thou? and whence art thou? And he said, A young man of Egypt, am I, servant to an Amalekite, and my lord left me behind, because I fell sick, three days ago.

¹⁴ As for us, we invaded the South of the Cherithites, and against that which pertaineth unto Judah, and against the South of Caleb,—and, Ziklag, burned we with fire.

¹⁵ And David said unto him, Wilt thou bring me down unto this troop? And he said—Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt not put me to death, neither wilt thou surrender me into the hand of my lord, and I will bring thee down unto this troop.

¹⁶ So he brought him down, and lo! they were left to themselves over the face of all the land,—eating, and drinking, and dancing around, for all the great spoil which they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

¹⁷ And David smote them, from the closing twilight even unto the evening of the next day,—and there escaped not of them a man, save four hundred young men who rode upon camels, and fled.

¹⁸ And David rescued all whom the Amalekites had taken,—his two wives also, did David rescue;

¹⁹ and there was nothing missing to them—whether small or great, whether spoil, or sons or daughters, or, any thing which they had taken unto themselves,—the whole, did David recover.

²⁰ And David took all the flocks and the herds,—they drave them before those other cattle, and they said, This, is David’s spoil.

²¹ And David came unto the two hundred men, who had been too wearied to follow David, and whom they had suffered to remain at the ravine of Besor,—and they came forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him, and when David came near unto the people, they enquired of his success.

²² Then responded every man who was bad and abandoned, from among the men who had been with David, and said—Because they went not with me there shall not be given them of the spoil that we have rescued,—save, to every man, his wife and his children, let them put them forth, then, and go.

²³ Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren,—with that which Yahweh hath given to us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand.

²⁴ Who indeed, could hearken unto you, in this mutter? Surely, like the share of him that went down into the battle, even, so, shall be the share of him that remained by the stores—alike, shall they share.

²⁵ And so it came to pass, from that day forward, that he appointed it, for a statute and for a custom unto Israel, until this day.

²⁶ And, when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil, unto the elders of Judah, unto his friends, saying,—Lo! for you, a blessing, out of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh:

²⁷ to them who were in Bethel, and to them who were in Ramoth of the South, and to them who were in Jattir,

²⁸ and to them who were in Aroer, and to them who were in Siphmoth, and to them who were in Eshtemoa,

²⁹ and to them who were in Racal, and to them who were in the cities of the Jerameelites, and to them who were in the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰ and to them who were in Hormah, and to them who were in Cor-ashan, and to them who were in Athach,

³¹ and to them who were in Hebron,—and to all the places where David had been to and fro, he and his men.