30

David’s Conflict with the Amalekites

¹Now it happened, when David and his men came to ⚓Ziklag, on the third day, that the ⚓Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, ²and had taken captive the ⚓women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. ³So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ⁵And David’s two ⚓wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. ⁶Now David was greatly distressed, for ⚓the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. ⚓But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
⁷⚓Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And ⚓Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸⚓So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”
And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”
⁹So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. ¹⁰But David pursued, he and four hundred men; ⚓for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.
¹¹Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water. ¹²And they gave him a piece of ⚓a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So ⚓when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”
And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick. ¹⁴We made an invasion of the southern area of ⚓the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area⚓of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
¹⁵And David said to him, “Can you take me down to this troop?”
So he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my ⚓master, and I will take you down to this troop.”
¹⁶And when he had brought him down, there 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 Judah. ¹⁷Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. ¹⁸So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; ⚓David recovered all. ²⁰Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”
²¹Now David came to the ⚓two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near the people, he greeted them. ²²Then all the wicked and ⚓worthless men of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every man’s wife and children, that they may lead them away and depart.”
²³But David said, “My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us. ²⁴For who will heed you in this matter? But ⚓as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.” ²⁵So it was, from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.
²⁶Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord”— ²⁷to those who were in Bethel, those who were in ⚓Ramoth of the South, those who were in ⚓Jattir, ²⁸those who were in ⚓Aroer, those who were in ⚓Siphmoth, those who were in ⚓Eshtemoa, ²⁹those who were in Rachal, those who were in the cities of ⚓the Jerahmeelites, those who were in the cities of the ⚓Kenites, ³⁰those who were in ⚓Hormah, those who were in Chorashan, those who were in Athach, ³¹those who were in ⚓Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to ⚓rove.

30

與亞瑪力人爭戰

¹第三日，大衛和他的人到了洗革拉。亞瑪力人已經侵奪尼革夫和洗革拉。他們攻破洗革拉，用火焚燒。 ²他們擄去城內的婦女和城中的大小人口，一個都沒有殺，全都帶走，他們就上路去了。 ³大衛和他的人到了那城，看哪，城已被火燒燬，他們的妻子兒女都被擄去了。 ⁴大衛和跟隨他的百姓就放聲大哭，直到沒有氣力再哭。 ⁵大衛的兩個妻子，耶斯列人亞希暖和作過拿八妻子的迦密人亞比該，也被擄去了。 ⁶大衛非常焦急，因為眾百姓為自己的兒女痛心，說要用石頭打死他。大衛卻倚靠耶和華－他的上帝，堅定自己。
⁷大衛對亞希米勒的兒子亞比亞他祭司說：「請你把以弗得拿來給我。」亞比亞他就把以弗得拿給大衛。 ⁸大衛求問耶和華說：「我追趕這羣人，是否追得上呢？」耶和華對他說：「你可以追，一定追得上，也一定救得回來。」 ⁹於是，大衛出發，他和跟隨他的六百人來到比梭溪，那些不能前去的就留在那裏。 ¹⁰大衛帶着四百人往前追趕；有二百人疲乏，不能過比梭溪，留在那裏。
¹¹這四百人在田野遇見一個埃及人，就帶他到大衛面前，給他餅吃，給他水喝， ¹²又給他一塊無花果餅，兩個葡萄乾餅。他吃了，精神就恢復了，因為他三日三夜沒有吃餅，沒有喝水。 ¹³大衛對他說：「你是誰的人？你從哪裏來？」他說：「我是埃及的青年，是亞瑪力人的奴僕。因為我三天前生病，我主人就把我撇棄了。 ¹⁴我們侵奪了基利提的南方和屬猶大的地，以及迦勒地的南方，又用火燒了洗革拉。」 ¹⁵大衛對他說：「你肯領我們下到那羣人那裏嗎？」他說：「你要向我指着上帝起誓，你不殺我，也不把我交在我主人手裏，我就領你下到那羣人那裏。」
¹⁶那人領大衛下去，看哪，他們分散在全地面，吃喝跳舞，因為他們從非利士人的地和猶大地擄來的財物非常多。 ¹⁷大衛擊殺他們，從黎明直到次日晚上，除了四百個騎駱駝逃走的青年之外，一個也沒有逃脫。 ¹⁸亞瑪力人所擄去的財物，大衛全都奪回，並救回他的兩個妻子。 ¹⁹凡亞瑪力人所擄去的，無論大小、兒女、掠物和一切被擄去的，大衛全都奪回來。 ²⁰大衛所奪來的牛羣羊羣，有人趕在羣畜前面，說：「這是大衛的掠物。」
²¹大衛到了那疲乏不能跟隨、留在比梭溪的二百人那裏。他們出來迎接大衛和跟隨他的百姓。大衛上前向他們問安。 ²²跟隨大衛去的人中，每一個惡人和無賴都說：「這些人既然沒有和我同去，我們所奪的財物就不分給他們，只把他們各人的妻子兒女給他們，讓他們帶回去就好了。」 ²³大衛說：「我的弟兄，耶和華所賜給我們的，你們不可這麼做，因為他保佑了我們，把那羣來攻擊我們的人交在我們手裏。 ²⁴誰肯在這事上聽你們呢？上陣的分得多少，留下看守物件的也分得多少，大家應當平分。」 ²⁵從那日起，大衛定此為以色列的律例典章，直到今日。
²⁶大衛到了洗革拉，從掠物中取些送給他的朋友，就是猶大的長老，說：「看哪，這是從耶和華仇敵那裏奪來的，送給你們作禮物。」 ²⁷有在伯特利⚓的，尼革夫之拉末的，雅提珥的， ²⁸有在亞羅珥的，息末的，以實提莫的， ²⁹有在拉哈勒的，耶拉篾各城的，基尼各城的， ³⁰有在何珥瑪的，坡拉珊⚓的，亞撻的， ³¹有在希伯崙的，以及大衛和跟隨他的人經常進出之處的。