NAS - 1 Samuel Chapter 30 to 31

30 David's Victory over the Amalekites

¹Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; ²and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, without killing anyone, and carried them off and went their way. ³When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. ⁵Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

⁷Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?" And He said to him, "Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely rescue all." ⁹So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those left behind remained. ¹⁰But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor remained behind.

¹¹Now they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they provided him water to drink. ¹²They gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; then his spirit revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³David said to him, "To whom do you belong? And where are you from?" And he said, "I am a young man of Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind when I fell sick three days ago. ¹⁴"We made a raid on the Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire." ¹⁵Then David said to him, "Will you bring me down to this band?" And he said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band."

¹⁶When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷David slaughtered them from the twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. ¹⁸So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives. ¹⁹But nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought it all back. ²⁰So David had captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of the other livestock, and they said, "This is David's spoil."

The Spoils Are Divided

²¹When David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David, who had also been left at the brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, then David approached the people and greeted them. ²²Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, "Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart." ²³Then David said, "You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us, who has kept us and delivered into our hand the band that came against us. ²⁴"And 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 by the baggage; they shall share alike." ²⁵So it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "Behold, a gift for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD: ²⁷to those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the Negev, and to those who were in Jattir, ²⁸and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa, ²⁹and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, ³⁰and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Bor-ashan, and to those who were in Athach, ³¹and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to go."

31 Saul and His Sons Slain

¹Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ²The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul. ³The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers. ⁴Then Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of me." But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶Thus Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.

⁷When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸It came about on the next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. ¹⁰They put his weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. ¹¹Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²all the valiant men rose and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.