1 Samuel 29–31

Now ^athe Philistines gathered together all their armies to ^bAphek: and the Israelites pitched by ^ca fountain which is in ^dJezreel. ²And ^ethe lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward ^fwith Achish. ³Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me ^gthese days, or these years, and ^hI have found no fault in him since he ⁱfell unto me unto this day? ⁴And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place, which ^jthou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest ^kin the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men? ⁵Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, ^lSaul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? ⁶Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, ^mas the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright, and ⁿthy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for ^oI have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless ^ethe lords favour thee not. ⁷Wherefore now return, and ^pgo in peace, that thou displease not ^ethe lords of the Philistines. ⁸And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king? ⁹And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, ^qas an angel of God: notwithstanding ^rthe princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. ¹⁰Wherefore now rise up early in the morning ^swith thy master’s servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart. ¹¹So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to ^tJezreel.

XXX.And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to ^aZiklag on the third day, that the ^bAmalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burnt it with fire; ²and 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. ³So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burnt with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. ⁴Then David and the people that were with him lift up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ⁵And David’s ^ctwo wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶And David was greatly distressed; ^dfor 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 ^eDavid encouraged himself in the Lord his God. ⁷And David said to ^fAbiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. ⁸And ^gDavid inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this ^htroop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. ⁹So David went, he and ⁱthe six hundred men that were with him, and came to the ^jbrook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. ¹⁰But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the ^jbrook Besor.

¹¹And 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; ¹²and they gave him a piece of ^ka cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, ^lhis spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. ¹³And 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 Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. ¹⁴We made an invasion upon the south of ^mthe Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of ⁿCaleb; and we burnt Ziklag with fire. ¹⁵And 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. ¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷And 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 ^ocamels, and fled. ¹⁸And David ^precovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, ^qThis is David’s spoil.

²¹And David came to the ^rtwo hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the ^jbrook 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. ²²Then answered all the wicked men and ^smen of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. ²³Then 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. ²⁴For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but ^tas his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be ^uthat tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. ²⁵And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

²⁶And 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; ²⁷to them which were in ^wBeth-el, and to them which were in ^xsouth Ramoth, and to them which were in ^yJattir, ²⁸and to them which were in ^zAroer, and to them which were in ^aSiphmoth, and to them which were in ^bEshtemoa, ²⁹and to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of ^cthe Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities of ^dthe Kenites, ³⁰and to them which were in ^eHormah, and to them which were in Chor-^fashan, and to them which were in Athach, ³¹and to them which were in ^gHebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.

XXXI.Now ^athe Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount ^bGilboa. ²And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew ^cJonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. ³And ^dthe battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. ^4eThen said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest ^fthese uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; ^gfor he was sore afraid: therefore Saul took a sword, and ^hfell upon it. ⁵And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. ⁶So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all ⁱhis men, that same day together.

⁷And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of ^jthe valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. ⁸And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. ⁹And ^kthey cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to ^lpublish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. ¹⁰And they put ^mhis armour in the house of ⁿAshtaroth: and ^othey fastened his body to the wall of ^pBeth-shan. ¹¹And when the inhabitants of ^qJabesh-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12rall the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and ^sburnt them there. ¹³And they took their bones, and ^tburied them under ^ua tree at Jabesh, and ^xfasted ^yseven days.