1 Samuel 29–31 (ESV)
1 Samuel 29:1 Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel.
1 Samuel 29:2 As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish,
1 Samuel 29:3 the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years, and since he deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day.”
1 Samuel 29:4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?
1 Samuel 29:5 Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
1 Samuel 29:6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you.
1 Samuel 29:7 So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.”
1 Samuel 29:8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
1 Samuel 29:9 And Achish answered David and said, “I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’
1 Samuel 29:10 Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.”
1 Samuel 29:11 So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
1 Samuel 30:1 Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire
1 Samuel 30:2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.
1 Samuel 30:3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
1 Samuel 30:4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.
1 Samuel 30:5 David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
1 Samuel 30:7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
1 Samuel 30:8 And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.”
1 Samuel 30:9 So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.
1 Samuel 30:10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.
1 Samuel 30:11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink,
1 Samuel 30:12 and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.
1 Samuel 30:13 And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago.
1 Samuel 30:14 We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
1 Samuel 30:15 And David said to him, “Will you take 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 take you down to this band.”
1 Samuel 30:16 And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
1 Samuel 30:17 And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.
1 Samuel 30:18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.
1 Samuel 30:19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all.
1 Samuel 30:20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”
1 Samuel 30:21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them.
1 Samuel 30:22 Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.”
1 Samuel 30:23 But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us.
1 Samuel 30:24 Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.”
1 Samuel 30:25 And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.
1 Samuel 30:26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.”
1 Samuel 30:27 It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir,
1 Samuel 30:28 in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa,
1 Samuel 30:29 in Racal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites,
1 Samuel 30:30 in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach,
1 Samuel 30:31 in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.
1 Samuel 31:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
1 Samuel 31:2 And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.
1 Samuel 31:3 The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.
1 Samuel 31:4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.
1 Samuel 31:5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.
1 Samuel 31:6 Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together.
1 Samuel 31:7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.
1 Samuel 31:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
1 Samuel 31:9 So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.
1 Samuel 31:10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.
1 Samuel 31:11 But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
1 Samuel 31:12 all 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 they came to Jabesh and burned them there.
1 Samuel 31:13 And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
