20At once Saul flung himself prone on the ground, terrified by Samuel’s words. Besides, there was no strength in him, for he had not eaten anything all day and all night. 21The woman went up to Saul and, seeing how greatly disturbed he was, she said to him, “Your handmaid listened to you; I took my life in my hands and heeded the request you made of me. 22So now you listen to me: Let me set before you a bit of food. Eat, and then you will have the strength to go on your way.” 23He refused, saying, “I will not eat.” But when his courtiers as well as the woman urged him, he listened to them; he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. 24The woman had a stall-fed calf in the house; she hastily slaughtered it, and took flour and kneaded it, and baked some unleavened cakes. 25She set this before Saul and his courtiers, and they ate. Then they rose and left the same night.
29 The Philistines mustered all their forces at Aphek, while Israel was encamping at the spring in Jezreel. 2The Philistine lords came marching, each with his units of hundreds and of thousands; and David and his men came marching last, with Achish. 3The Philistine officers asked, “Who are those Hebrews?” “Why, that’s David, the servant of King Saul of Israel,” Achish answered the Philistine officers. “He has been with me a-for a year or more,-a and I have found no fault in him from the day he defected until now.” 4But the Philistine officers were angry with him; and the Philistine officers said to him, “Send the man back; let him go back to the place you assigned him. He shall not march down with us to the battle, or else he may become our adversary in battle. For with what could that fellow appease his master if not with b-the heads of these men?-b 5Remember, he is the David of whom they sang as they danced:
Saul has slain his thousands;
David, his tens of thousands.”
6Achish summoned David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you are an honest man, and I would like to have you servec in my forces; for I have found no fault with you from the day you joined me until now. But you are not acceptable to the other lords. 7So go back in peace, and do nothing to displease the Philistine lords.”
8David, however, said to Achish, “But what have I done, what fault have you found in your servant from the day I appeared before you to this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” 9Achish replied to David, “I know; you are as acceptable to me as an angel of God. But the Philistine officers have decided that you must not march out with us to the battle. 10So rise early in the morning, you and your lord’s servants who came with you—d-rise early in the morning,-d and leave as soon as it is light.” 11Accordingly, David and his men rose early in the morning to leave, to return to the land of the Philistines, while the Philistines marched up to Jezreel.
30 By the time David and his men arrived in Ziklag, on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negeb and against Ziklag; they had stormed Ziklag and burned it down. 2They had taken the women in it captive, low-born and high-born alike; they did not kill any, but carried them off and went their way. 3When David and his men came to the town and found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive, 4David and the troops with him broke into tears, until they had no strength left for weeping. 5David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail wife of Nabal from Carmel. 6David was in great danger, for the troops threatened to stone him; for all the troops were embittered on account of their sons and daughters.
But David sought strength in the LORD his God. 7David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring the ephod up to me.” When Abiathar brought up the ephoda to David, 8David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue those raiders? Will I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall overtake and you shall rescue.”
9So David and the six hundred men with him set out, and they came to the Wadi Besor, where a halt was made by those who were to be left behind. 10David continued the pursuit with four hundred men; two hundred men had halted, too faint to cross the Wadi Besor. 11They came upon an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. They gave him food to eat and water to drink; 12he was also given a piece of pressed fig cake and two cakes of raisins. He ate and regained his strength, for he had eaten no food and drunk no water for three days and three nights. 13Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong and where are you from?” “I am an Egyptian boy,” he answered, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I fell ill three days ago. 14We had raided the Negeb of the Cherethites, and [the Negeb] of Judah, and the Negeb of Caleb; we also burned down Ziklag.” 15And David said to him, “Can you lead me down to that band?” He replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into my master’s hands, and I will lead you down to that band.” 16So he led him down, and there they were, scattered all over the ground, eating and drinking and making merry because of all the vast spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17David attacked them from b-before dawn until the evening of the next day;-b none of them escaped, except four hundred young men who mounted camels and got away. 18David rescued everything the Amalekites had taken; David also rescued his two wives. 19Nothing of theirs was missing—young or old, sons or daughters, spoil or anything else that had been carried off—David recovered everything. 20David took all the flocks and herds, b-which [the troops] drove ahead of the other livestock;-b and they declared, “This is David’s spoil.”
21When David reached the two hundred men who were too faint to follow David and who had been left at the Wadi Besor, they came out to welcome David and the troops with him; David came forward with the troops and greeted them. 22But all the mean and churlish fellows among the men who had accompanied David spoke up, “Since they did not accompany us,c we will not give them any of the spoil that we seized— except that each may take his wife and children and go.” 23David, however, spoke up, “You must not do that, d-my brothers, in view of-d what the LORD has granted us, guarding us and delivering into our hands the band that attacked us. 24How could anyone agree with you in this matter? The share of those who remain with the baggage shall be the same as the share of those who go down to battle; they shall share alike.” 25So from that day on it was made a fixed rule for Israel, continuing to the present day.
26When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah b-[and] to his friends,-b saying, “This is a present for you from our spoil of the enemies of the LORD.” 27[He sent the spoil to the elders] in Bethel,c Ramoth-negeb, and Jattir; 28in Aroer, Siphmoth, and Eshtemoa; 29in Racal, in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, and in the towns of the Kenites; 30in Hormah, Bor-ashan, and Athach; 31and to those in Hebron—all the places where David and his men had roamed.
31 aThe Philistines attacked Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and [many] fell on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, sons of Saul. 3The battle raged around Saul, and b-some of the archers-b hit him, and he c-was severely wounded-c by the archers. 4Saul said to his arms-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, so that the uncircumcised may not run me through and make sport of me.” But his arms-bearer, in his great awe, refused; whereupon Saul grasped the sword and fell upon it. 5When his arms-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6Thus Saul and his three sons and his arms-bearer, d-as well as all his men,-d died together on that day. 7And when the men of Israel e-on the other side of the valley and on the other side of the Jordan-e saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the towns and fled; the Philistines then came and occupied them.
8The next day the Philistines came to strip the slain,
