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1 SAM UEL 31
page 271
were too exhausted to cross the brook, so David
continued the pursuit with 400 men.
11 Along the way they found an Egyptian
man in a field and brought him to David. They
gave him some bread to eat and water to drink.
12 They also gave him part of a fig cake and two
clusters of raisins, for he hadn’t had anything
to eat or drink for three days and nights. Before
long his strength returned.
13 “To whom do you belong, and where do you
come from?” David asked him.
“I am an Egyptian—the slave of an Amalekite,” he replied. “My master abandoned me
three days ago because I was sick. 14 We were on
our way back from raiding the Kerethites in the
Negev, the territory of Judah, and the land of
Caleb, and we had just burned Ziklag.”
15 “Will you lead me to this band of raiders?”
David asked.
The young man replied, “If you take an oath
in God’s name that you will not kill me or give
me back to my master, then I will guide you to
them.”
16 So he led David to them, and they found the
Amalekites spread out across the fields, eating
and drinking and dancing with joy because of
the vast amount of plunder they had taken from
the Philistines and the land of Judah. 17 David
and his men rushed in among them and slaughtered them throughout that night and the entire
next day until evening. None of the Amalekites
escaped except 400 young men who fled on
camels. 18 David got back everything the Amalekites had taken, and he rescued his two wives.
19 Nothing was missing: small or great, son or
daughter, nor anything else that had been
taken. David brought everything back. 20 He also
recovered all the flocks and herds, and his men
drove them ahead of the other livestock. “This
plunder belongs to David!” they said.
21 Then David returned to the brook Besor and
met up with the 200 men who had been left behind because they were too exhausted to go with
him. They went out to meet David and his men,
and David greeted them joyfully. 22 But some evil
troublemakers among David’s men said, “They
didn’t go with us, so they can’t have any of the
plunder we recovered. Give them their wives
and children, and tell them to be gone.”
23 But David said, “No, my brothers! Don’t be
selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has
kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of
raiders that attacked us. 24 Who will listen when
you talk like this? We share and share alike—
those who go to battle and those who guard the
equipment.” 25 From then on David made this a
decree and regulation for Israel, and it is still
followed today.
30:29 Greek version reads Carmel.
26 When he arrived at Ziklag, David sent part
of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were
his friends. “Here is a present for you, taken
from the Lord’s enemies,” he said.
27 The gifts were sent to the people of the
following towns David had visited: Bethel,
Ramoth-negev, Jattir, 28 Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, 29 Racal,* the towns of the Jerahmeelites,
the towns of the Kenites, 30 Hormah, Bor-ashan,
Athach, 31 Hebron, and all the other places David and his men had visited.
The Death of Saul
Now the Philistines attacked Israel, and
the men of Israel fled before them. Many
were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.
2 The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons,
and they killed three of his sons—Jonathan,
Abinadab, and Malkishua. 3 The fighting grew
very fierce around Saul, and the Philistine archers caught up with him and wounded him
severely.
4 Saul groaned to his armor bearer, “Take
your sword and kill me before these pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and
torture me.”
But his armor bearer was afraid and would
not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell
on it. 5 When his armor bearer realized that Saul
was dead, he fell on his own sword and died
beside the king. 6 So Saul, his three sons, his
armor bearer, and his troops all died together
that same day.
7 When the Israelites on the other side of the
Jezreel Valley and beyond the Jordan saw that
the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and
his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns
and fled. So the Philistines moved in and occupied their towns.
8 The next day, when the Philistines went out
to strip the dead, they found the bodies of Saul
and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. 9 So they
cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his armor.
Then they proclaimed the good news of Saul’s
death in their pagan temple and to the people
throughout the land of Philistia. 10 They placed
his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and
they fastened his body to the wall of the city of
Beth-shan.
11 But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard
what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their
mighty warriors traveled through the night to
Beth-shan and took the bodies of Saul and his
sons down from the wall. They brought them to
Jabesh, where they burned the bodies. 13 Then
they took their bones and buried them beneath
the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted for
seven days.
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