Beginning

28 Then it came time for the Philistines to gather their forces to go to war against the people of Israel, and Achish spoke to David.

³ Remember, Samuel had died some time previously and had been mourned by all of Israel. He was buried in his hometown of Ramah, and his wisdom died with him.

Another important thing to know: Saul had ordered all of the mediums and any others who claimed to speak to the dead thrown out of Israel.

⁴ The Philistines gathered for war, and they made their camp at Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul looked out over the forces of the Philistines, he was filled with fear and lost his confidence. ⁶ Saul asked the Eternal for guidance, but He did not give him an answer, neither in dreams nor by consulting the Urim nor through prophecy.

⁸ So Saul disguised himself in different clothes, and taking two men with him, he went to see this woman in the dark of night.

¹² The medium began her rituals, but when she began to see Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, realizing that her customer was Saul.

Saul knew this was Samuel, and he dropped to the ground, putting his face to the floor.

²⁰ When Saul heard Samuel’s words, he collapsed to the ground in terror and weakness, for he had not eaten all day and all night. ²¹ The woman came to him, and she saw that he was filled with fear.

His servants joined her in urging the king to eat, and at last he listened to them. He rose from the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴ The woman took a fatted calf, slaughtered it, and prepared it. She took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread. ²⁵ When the food was ready, she served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate it before they departed that night.

29 The Philistines gathered for battle at Aphek, while the armies of Israel camped near the spring of Jezreel. ² The armies of the Philistines were marching forward by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were marching in the rear with King Achish.

¹¹ So the next morning, David and his men got up early and traveled south to the land of the Philistines, but the Philistine army went north to Jezreel.

30 When David and his men reached Ziklag three days later, they discovered that the Amalekites had raided the desert hill country. They had attacked Ziklag in David’s absence, burned it, ² and carried away the women and all the other inhabitants whom David had left behind. None of them were killed, but they were taken captive and carried back toward Amalek.

³ So David and his men arrived in the burned city and found their wives, daughters, and sons gone, taken captive by the Amalekite raiders. ⁴ And when they saw this, they cried out and wept aloud until they could weep no more. ⁵ David’s wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel, were among those carried off.

⁶ David, too, was in anguish. Some of his men talked about stoning him because they were so bitter about their families being taken. But David took comfort in the Eternal One, his True God.

⁷ He called for the priest, Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, and instructed him to bring the priestly vest, which he did.

^9-10 So David set out with his 600 men. They came to the wadi Besor, a dry creek bed where he left behind 200 men who were too exhausted to continue the pursuit.

¹¹ In the open country beyond, some of his soldiers found an Egyptian. They took him to David, fed him, and gave him water. ¹² They gave him some fig cake and two clusters of raisins. After the man had eaten, he regained his strength. He had not had food or water for three days and nights.

¹⁶ He led David to where the Amalekites were spread out all over the place eating and drinking and dancing, because they had taken such great spoils in their raids against Philistia and Judah. ¹⁷ David fought against them from one twilight to the next, and he killed all of them except for 400 young men who escaped on camels.

¹⁸ So David recovered everything that had been taken, including his two wives. ¹⁹ Nothing was missing—from the smallest thing to the greatest treasure, none of the sons or daughters, no property of any kind. David brought everything home. ²⁰ David also captured their flocks and herds, which they were driving ahead of other livestock, and the people agreed this would be David’s share of the Amalekites’ property.

²¹ David and his people returned to the wadi Besor, where the 200 had remained behind, and those men went out to meet David and all those with him. As David approached, he greeted them. ²² But some of the wicked and greedy ones who had fought alongside David spoke out.

²⁵ In fact, he made this a law and an ordinance, and it remains so in Israel today.

²⁶ And after David returned to Ziklag, he gave part of the spoil he had taken to his friends who ruled over Judah, with the message, “This is a present for you taken from the enemies of the Eternal.”

²⁷ These gifts were sent to Bethel, to Ramoth in the desert south, to Jattir, ²⁸ to Aroer, to Siphmoth, to Eshtemoa, ²⁹ to Racal, to the towns of the Jerahmeelites, to the towns of the Kenites, ³⁰ to Hormah, to Bor-ashan, to Athach, ³¹ and to Hebron—all places where David and his men had lived and traveled.

31 Meanwhile the Philistine and Israelite armies had clashed. The men of Israel ran away, but many of them were killed on the heights of Gilboa. ² The Philistines even followed Saul and his sons and closed in on them; there they killed his sons, Jonathan (the beloved friend of David), Abinadab, and Malchi-shua.

³ The battle closed in around Saul, and he was shot with arrows and badly wounded.

But his armor-bearer was afraid and would not do it. Saul drew his own sword and fell upon it. ⁵ When the armor-bearer saw this, he also drew his sword and fell upon it and died. ⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together on the same day.

⁷ When the people of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and even those beyond the Jordan River, learned that the Israelite army had been defeated and heard that Saul and his sons were dead, they left their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ The next day, as the Philistine army was looting the bodies of the fallen Israelites, they found Saul and his three sons dead on the heights of Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off Saul’s head, stripped his body of his weapons, and sent messengers with the good news to the temples and to the people throughout Philistia. ¹⁰ They put Saul’s armor in the temple of Astarte and nailed his body to the wall at Beth-shan.

¹¹ But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard about this indignity done to Saul by the Philistines, ¹² the brave men among them rose up and traveled through the night. When they arrived, they took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall at Beth-shan. They returned to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them in Jabesh beneath the tamarisk tree, like the one where Saul had held court in Gibeah, and for seven days they fasted and mourned.