29 And the Philistines gather all their camps to Aphek, and the Israelites are encamping at a fountain which [is] in Jezreel,

² and the princes of the Philistines are passing on by hundreds, and by thousands, and David and his men are passing on in the rear with Achish.

³ And the heads of the Philistines say, `What [are] these Hebrews?' and Achish saith unto the heads of the Philistines, `Is not this David servant of Saul king of Israel, who hath been with me these days or these years, and I have not found in him anything [wrong] from the day of his falling away till this day.'

⁴ And the heads of the Philistines are wroth against him, and the heads of the Philistines say to him, `Send back the man, and he doth turn back unto his place whither thou hast appointed him, and doth not go down with us into battle, and is not to us for an adversary in battle; and wherewith doth this one reconcile himself unto his lord -- is it not with the heads of those men?'

⁵ Is not this David, of whom they answer in choruses, saying, Saul hath smitten among his thousands, and David among his myriads?'

⁶ And Achish calleth unto David, and saith unto him, `Jehovah liveth, surely thou [art] upright, and good in mine eyes is thy going out, and thy coming in, with me in the camp, for I have not found in thee evil from the day of thy coming in unto me till this day; and in the eyes of the princes thou art not good;

⁷ and now, turn back, and go in peace, and thou dost do no evil in the eyes of the princes of the Philistines.'

⁸ And David saith unto Achish, `But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant from the day that I have been before thee till this day -- that I go not in and have fought against the enemies of my lord the king?'

⁹ And Achish answereth and saith unto David, `I have known that thou [art] good in mine eyes as a messenger of God; only, the princes of the Philistines have said, He doth not go up with us into battle;

¹⁰ and now, rise thou early in the morning, and the servants of thy lord who have come with thee, when ye have risen early in the morning, and have light, then go ye.'

¹¹ And David riseth early, he and his men, to go in the morning, to turn back unto the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines have gone up to Jezreel.

30 And it cometh to pass, in the coming in of David and his men to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites have pushed unto the south, and unto Ziklag, and smite Ziklag, and burn it with fire,

² and they take captive the women who [are] in it; from small unto great they have not put any one to death, and they lead away, and go on their way.

³ And David cometh in -- and his men -- unto the city, and lo, burnt with fire, and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters have been taken captive!

⁴ And David lifteth up -- and the people who [are] with him -- their voice and weep, till that they have no power to weep.

⁵ And the two wives of David have been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite;

⁶ and David hath great distress, for the people have said to stone him, for the soul of all the people hath been bitter, each for his sons and for his daughters; and David doth strengthen himself in Jehovah his God.

⁷ And David saith unto Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, `Bring nigh, I pray thee, to me the ephod;' and Abiathar bringeth nigh the ephod unto David,

⁸ and David asketh at Jehovah, saying, `I pursue after this troop -- do I overtake it?' And He saith to him, `Pursue, for thou dost certainly overtake, and dost certainly deliver.'

⁹ And David goeth on, he and six hundred men who [are] with him, and they come in unto the brook of Besor, and those left have stood still,

¹⁰ and David pursueth, he and four hundred men, (and two hundred men stand still who have been too faint to pass over the brook of Besor),

¹¹ and they find a man, an Egyptian, in the field, and take him unto David, and give to him bread, and he eateth, and they cause him to drink water,

¹² and give to him a piece of a bunch of dried figs, and two bunches of raisins, and he eateth, and his spirit returneth unto him, for he hath not eaten bread nor drunk water three days and three nights.

¹³ And David saith to him, `Whose [art] thou? and whence [art] thou?' And he saith, `An Egyptian youth I [am], servant to a man, an Amalekite, and my lord forsaketh me, for I have been sick three days,

¹⁴ we pushed [to] the south of the Cherethite, and against that which [is] to Judah, and against the south of Caleb, and Ziklag we burned with fire.'

¹⁵ And David saith unto him, `Dost thou bring me down unto this troop?' and he saith, `Swear to me by God -- thou dost not put me to death, nor dost thou shut me up into the hand of my lord -- and I bring thee down unto this troop.'

¹⁶ And he bringeth him down, and lo, they are spread out over the face of all the earth, eating, and drinking, and feasting, with all the great spoil which they have taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

¹⁷ And David smiteth them from the twilight even unto the evening of the morrow, and there hath not escaped of them a man, except four hundred young men who have ridden on the camels, and are fled.

¹⁸ And David delivereth all that the Amalekites have taken; also his two wives hath David delivered.

¹⁹ And there hath not lacked to them [anything], from small unto great, and unto sons and daughters, and from the spoil, even unto all that they had taken to themselves, the whole hath David brought back,

²⁰ and David taketh the whole of the flock, and of the herd, they have led on before these cattle, and they say, `This [is] David's spoil.'

²¹ And David cometh in unto the two hundred men who were too faint to go after David, and whom they cause to abide at the brook of Besor, and they go out to meet David, and to meet the people who [are] with him, and David approacheth the people, and asketh of them of welfare.

²² And every bad and worthless man, of the men who have gone with David, answereth, yea, they say, `Because that they have not gone with us we do not give to them of the spoil which we have delivered, except each his wife and his children, and they lead away and go.

²³ And David saith, `Ye do not do so, my brethren, with that which Jehovah hath given to us, and He doth preserve us, and doth give the troop which cometh against us into our hand;

²⁴ and who doth hearken to you in this thing? for as the portion of him who was brought down into battle, so also [is] the portion of him who is abiding by the vessels -- alike they share.'

²⁵ And it cometh to pass from that day and forward, that he appointeth it for a statute and for an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

²⁶ And David cometh in unto Ziklag, and sendeth of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, (saying, `Lo, for you a blessing, of the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah),'

²⁷ to those in Beth-El, and to those in South Ramoth, and to those in Jattir,

²⁸ and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa,

²⁹ and to those in Rachal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰ and to those in Hormah, and to those in Chor-Ashan, and to those in Athach,

³¹ and to those in Hebron, and to all the places where David had gone up and down, he and his men.