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David set off with six hundred men. They came to the Besor ravine, where some stayed behind. 10David and four hundred men continued the pursuit, while two hundred men stayed there, too exhausted to cross the Besor ravine.
11They found an Egyptian in the countryside and brought him to David. They gave him bread, and he ate, and they gave him water to drink. 12They also gave him a piece of fig cake and two raisin cakes. He ate and regained his strength because he hadn't eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and nights.
13Then David asked him, "Whose slave are you? Where do you come from?"
"I'm an Egyptian servant boy," he said, "and the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I got sick three days ago. 14We had raided the arid southern plain belonging to the Cherethites, the territory belonging to Judah, and the southern plain of Caleb. We also burned Ziklag down."
15"Can you guide me to this raiding party?" David asked him.
"Make a pledge to me by God that you won't kill me or hand me over to my master," the boy said, "and I will guide you to the raiding party."
16So the boy led David to them, and he found them scattered all over the countryside, eating, drinking, and celebrating over the large amount of plunder they had taken from Philistine and Judean territory.
17David attacked them from twilight until evening of the next day. He killed them all.b No one escaped except four hundred young men who got on camels and fled. 18David rescued everything that the Amalekites had taken, including his own two wives. 19Nothing was missing from the plunder or anything that they had taken, neither old nor young, son nor daughter. David brought everything back. 20David also captured all the sheep and cattle, which were driven in front of the other livestock. The troops said, "This is David's plunder!"
21David reached the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow him and had stayed behind at the Besor ravine. They came out to greet him and the troops who were with him. When David approached them, he asked how they were doing. 22But then all the evil and despicable individuals who had accompanied David said, "We won't share any of the plunder we rescued with them because they didn't go with us. Each of them can take his wife and children and go--but that's it."
23"Brothers!" David said. "Don't act that way with the things the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the raiding party that had attacked us. 24How could anyone agree with you on this plan? The share of those who went into battle and the share of those who stayed with the supplies will be divided equally."25So from that day forward, David made that a regulation and a law in Israel, which remains in place even now.
26When David returned to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah and to his friends. "Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD's enemies," he said. 27It went to those in Bethel, Ramoth of the arid southern plain, Jattir, 28Aroer,c Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, 29Racal, the towns of the Jerahmeelites, the towns of the Kenites, 30Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach, 31Hebron, and all the places where David and his soldiers had spent time.
Saul dies in the battle of Gilboa
1Samuel 31When the Philistines attacked the Israelites, the Israelites ran away from the Philistines, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. 3The battle was fierce around Saul. When the archers located him, they wounded him badly.d
4Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and kill me with it! Otherwise, these uncircumcised men will come and kill me or torture me." But his armor-bearer refused because he was terrified. So Saul took the sword and impaled himself on it. 5When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also impaled himself on his sword and died with Saul. 6So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his soldiers died together that day.
7When the Israelites across the valley and across the Jordan learned that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. So the Philistines came and occupied the towns.
8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. 9They cut off Saul's head and stripped off his armor, and then sent word throughout Philistine territory, carrying the good news to their gods' temples and to their people. 10They put Saul's armor in the temple of Astarte, and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.
11But when all the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12the bravest of their men set out, traveled all night long, and took the bodies of Saul and his sons off the wall of Beth-shan. Then they went back to Jabesh, where they burned them. 13Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
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aLXX; MT Ramathaim-zophim
bHeb uncertain; Syr But he would give a double portion to Hannah, because he loved her, though the LORDhad kept her from conceiving.
cOr your heart
dLXX; MT lacks presented herself before the LORD.
eLXX; MT lacks sad.
fSamuel means God has heard but here is connected to the Heb verb to ask.
gDSS (4QSama); MT lacks I will offer… forever.
hLXX, DSS (4QSama); MT he
iOr and the boy was a boy; Heb uncertain
jLXX, DSS (4QSama), Syr; MT three bulls
kAn ephah was approximately twenty quarts.
lSome Heb manuscripts, Syr, Vulg; MT he (Eli?) worshipped; DSS (4QSama) and she (Hannah) left him there and worshipped the LORD.
mOr my horn; also in 2:10
nHeb Sheol
oCf DSS (4QSama); Heb has four different words for pots.
pMT lacks with Eli's sons.
qLXX; MT adds only raw.
rHeb ephod
sDSS (4QSama); MT give
tLXX, DSS (4QSama); MT lacks Don't do this.
uDSS (4QSama), LXX; MT lacks slaves.
vHeb ephod
wLXX; MT arm or power
xHeb uncertain; LXX and DSS (4QSama) omit 2:31b-32a.
yDSS (4QSama), LXX; MT your
zLXX, DSS (4QSama); MT die by men or die as men
aTraditionally ark
bOr the beginning and the end
cLXX;
