David

David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the cattle, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish.

Achish said, “Against whom have you made a raid today?” David said, “Against the South of Judah, against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites.”

David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, “Lest they should tell of us, saying, ‘David this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.’”

Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever.”

In those days, the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you shall go out with me in the army, you and your men.”

David said to Achish, “Therefore you shall know what your servant will do.” Achish said to David, “Therefore will I make you my bodyguard for ever.”

The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David.

The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish.

Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away to this day?”

Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?’”

Then Achish called David, and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords don’t favor you.

David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

Achish answered David, “I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God. Notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’

So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. The Philistines went up to Jezreel.

When David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the South, and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire,

When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive.

Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

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 for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me here the ephod.” Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

David inquired of the LORD, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue; for you shall surely overtake them, and shall without fail recover all.”

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.

But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn’t go over the brook Besor.

They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.

David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.