29 Now athe Philistines gathered together all their armies to bAphek: and the Israelites pitched by ca fountain which is in dJezreel. 2 And ethe lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward fwith Achish. 3 Then 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? 4 And 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? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, lSaul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 6 Then 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. 7 Wherefore now return, and pgo in peace, that thou †displease not ethe lords of the Philistines. 8 And 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? 9 And 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. 10 Wherefore 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. 11 So 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.

30 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 burned it with fire; 2 And 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. 3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. 4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 And David’s ctwo wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 And 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. 7 And 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. 8 And 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. 9 So 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. 10 But 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.

11 And 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; 12 And 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. 13 And 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. 14 We 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 burned Ziklag with fire. 15 And 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. 16 And 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. 17 And 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. 18 And David precovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. 19 And 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. 20 And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, qThis is David’s spoil.

21 And 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. 22 Then 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. 23 Then 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. 24 For 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. 25 And it was so from that day †forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

26 And 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; 27 To them which were in wBeth-el, and to them which were in xsouth Ramoth, and to them which were in yJattir, 28 And to them which were in zAroer, and to them which were in aSiphmoth, and to them which were in bEshtemoa, 29 And 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, 30 And to them which were in eHormah, and to them which were in fChor-ashan, and to them which were in Athach, 31 And to them which were in gHebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.

31 Now athe Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down ||slain in mount bGilboa. 2 And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew cJonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons. 3 And dthe battle went sore against Saul, and the †archers †hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. 4 eThen 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. 5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all ihis men, that same day together.

7 And 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. 8 And 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. 9 And 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. 10 And they put mhis armour in the house of nAshtaroth: and othey fastened his body to the wall of pBeth-shan. 11 And when the inhabitants of qJabesh-gilead heard ||of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; 12 rAll 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. 13 And they took their bones, and tburied them under ua tree at Jabesh, and xfasted yseven days.