1And it came to be, when Dawiḏ and his men came to Tsiqlag̅, on the third day, that the Amalĕqites had invaded the South and Tsiqlag̅, and smote Tsiqlag̅ and burned it with fire.

2And they took captive the women and those who were there, from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but they led them away and went their way.

3And Dawiḏ and his men came to the city and saw it burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.

4And Dawiḏ and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

5And Dawiḏ’s two wives, Aḥino‛am the Yizre‛ĕlitess, and Aḇig̅ayil the widow of Naḇal the Karmelite, had been taken captive.

6And Dawiḏ was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the being of all the people was grieved, each for his sons and his daughters. But Dawiḏ strengthened himself in יהוה his Elohim.

7And Dawiḏ said to Eḇyathar the priest, son of Aḥimeleḵ, “Please bring the shoulder garment here to me.” So Eḇyathar brought the shoulder garment to Dawiḏ.

8And Dawiḏ inquired of יהוה, saying, “Do I pursue this band? Do I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall certainly overtake them, and certainly rescue.”

9So Dawiḏ went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the wadi Besor, where a halt was made by those who were left behind,

10while Dawiḏ pursued, he and four hundred men – for two hundred halted, who were too faint to pass over the wadi Besor.

11And they found a man in the field, a Mitsrite, and took him to Dawiḏ. And they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water,

12and gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his strength came back to him, for he had not eaten bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights.

13And Dawiḏ said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” And he said, “I am a young man from Mitsrayim, servant of an Amalĕqite. And my master left me behind, for I had been sick three days.

14“We attacked the south of the Kerĕthites and against that which belongs to Yehuḏah, and upon the south of Kalĕḇ, and we burned Tsiqlag̅ with fire.”

15And Dawiḏ said to him, “Could you bring me down to this marauding band?” And he said, “Swear to me by Elohim that you neither kill me nor surrender me into the hands of my master, then I bring you down to this marauding band.”

16And he brought him down and saw they were spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Yehuḏah.

17And Dawiḏ smote them from twilight until the evening of the next day. And none of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.

18And Dawiḏ rescued all that the Amalĕqites had taken. Dawiḏ also rescued his two wives.

19And there was none missing to them, whether small or great, whether sons or daughters, or spoil or whatever they had taken from them. Dawiḏ recovered all.

20Besides, Dawiḏ captured all the flocks and herds they had driven before those livestock, and they said, “This is Dawiḏ’s spoil.”

21And Dawiḏ came to the two hundred men who were too faint to follow Dawiḏ, who had also been left at the wadi Besor. And they went out to meet Dawiḏ and to meet the people who were with him. And when Dawiḏ came near the people, he greeted them.

22And all the evil and worthless men of those who went with Dawiḏ answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we do not give them any of the spoil that we have rescued, except for every man’s wife and children, and let them take them and go.”

23But Dawiḏ said, “My brothers, do not do so with what יהוה has given us, who has protected us and gave into our hand the band that came against us.

24“And who would listen to you in this matter? For as his portion is who goes down to the battle, so is his portion who remains with the baggage, they share alike.”

25And it came to be, from that day forward, he appointed it for a law and a right-ruling for Yisra’ĕl to this day.

26And when Dawiḏ came to Tsiqlag̅, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Yehuḏah, to his friends, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of יהוה,”

27to those in Bĕyth Ěl, and to those in Ramoth of the South, and to those in Yattir,

28and to those in Aro‛ĕr, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa,

29and to those in Raḵal, and to those in the cities of the Yeraḥme’ĕlites, and to those in the cities of the Qĕynites,

30and to those in Ḥormah, and to those in Korashan, and to those in Athaḵ,

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