1And it came to pass, when David and his men (ish) came into Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had raided against the Negev and against Ziklag, and they smote Ziklag and burned it with fire.
2And they took captive the women (ishah) who were in it, from small to great; they did not put a man (ish) to death, but they led them away and went on their way.
3And David and his men (ish) came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives (ishah), and their sons, and their daughters were taken captive.
4And David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until there was no power in them to weep.
5And David's two wives (ishah) were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife (ishah) of Nabal the Carmelite.
6And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul (nephesh) of all the people was bitter, each man (ish) over his sons and over his daughters; but David strengthened himself in YHWH his God.
7And David said to Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech: "Bring near, please, to me the ephod." And Abiathar brought near the ephod to David.
8And David inquired of YHWH, saying: "Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake it?" And He said to him: "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake, and you shall surely rescue."
9And David went, he and six hundred men (ish) who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, and those who were left behind stayed.
10And David pursued, he and four hundred men (ish); for two hundred men (ish) stayed behind, who were too faint to cross over the brook Besor.
11And they found an Egyptian man (ish) in the field, and they took him to David, and they gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.
12And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; and his spirit (ruach) returned to him, for he had not eaten bread nor drunk water three days and three nights.
13And David said to him: "To whom do you belong, and where are you from?" And he said: "I am a young man, an Egyptian, servant to an Amalekite man (ish); and my master left me, because I fell sick three days ago.
14We raided against the Negev of the Cherethites, and against that which belongs to Judah, and against the Negev of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire."
15And David said to him: "Will you bring me down to this troop?" And he said: "Swear to me by God that you will not put me to death and will not deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop."
16And he brought him down, and behold, they were spread out over the face of all the land, eating and drinking and feasting because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17And David smote them from the twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man (ish) of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.
18And David recovered all that Amalek had taken; and David rescued his two wives (ishah).
19And nothing of theirs was missing, from small to great, neither sons nor daughters, nor spoil, nor anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought back the whole.
20And David took all the flocks and the herds; they drove them before that livestock, and they said: "This is David's spoil."
21And David came to the two hundred men (ish) who were too faint to follow after David, whom they had made to stay at the brook Besor; and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him; and David drew near to the people and asked them of peace.
22And every wicked and worthless man (ish) of the men (ish) who had gone with David answered and said: "Because they did not go with me, we will not give them any of the spoil that we recovered, except to every man (ish) his wife (ishah) and his sons, that they may lead them away and go."
23And David said: "You shall not do so, my brothers, with what YHWH has given to us, who has kept us and has given the troop that came against us into our hand.
24And who will listen to you in this matter? For as the share of the one who goes down to the battle, so shall be the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike."
25And it came to pass from that day forward that he made it a statute (choq) and a judgment (mishpat) for Israel until this day.
26And David came to Ziklag, and he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying: "Behold, a blessing for you from the spoil of the enemies of YHWH";
27to those who were in Beth-el, and to those who were in Ramoth of the Negev, and to those who were in Jattir;
28and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa;
29and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites;
30and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Bor-ashan, and to those who were in Athach;
31and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men (ish) went about.