Page:The Emphasised Bible - Vol 2.djvu/40

1 SAMUEL XXX. 3 — 29.

the women and all^[1] who were therein, |from small even unto great|, they had not put one to death, — but had driven them forth, and gone their way. ³ So <when David and his men came to the city> lo! it was burnt with fire, — and their wives､ and their sons､ and their daughters! had been taken captive. ⁴ Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice, and wept, — ||until they had no more strength to weep||. ⁵ And ||the two wives of David|| had been taken captive, — Ahinoam､ the Jezreelitess, and Abigail､ wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶ And David was in sore distress, for the people had spoken of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were embittered, every man for his own sons^[2] and for his own daughters, — but David emboldened´ himself in Yahweh his God. ⁷ Then said David to Abiathar the priest､ son of Ahimelech, Do bring near me､ I pray thee､ the ephod. So Abiathar brought near the ephod､ unto David. ⁸ And David enquired of Yahweh､ saying､

Shall I pursue this troop? shall I overtake it? And he said unto him :

Pursue, for thou shalt ||overtake||, and thou shalt ||rescue||. ⁹ So David went､ ||he. and the six hundred men, who were with him||, and they came in as far as the ravine of Besor, — where ||they who had to be left behind|| stayed. ¹⁰ But David pursued, ||he, and four hundred men||, — but the two hundred men stayed´, because they were too wearied to cross over the ravine of Besor. ¹¹ And they found an Egyptian´ in the field, and took him unto David, — and gave him food, and he did eat, and they gave him water to drink ; ¹² and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two cakes of raisins, and <when he had eaten> his spirit came back unto him, — for he had neither eaten food, nor drunk water, three days and three nights. ¹³ Then David said to him —

Whose´ art thou? and whence´ art thou? And he said, <A young man of Egypt > am I´, servant to an Amalekite, and my lord left me behind, because I fell sick, three days ago. ¹⁴ <As for us> we invaded the South of the Cherithites, and against that which per- taineth unto Judah, and against the South of Caleb, — and <Ziklag> burned we with fire. ¹⁵ And David said unto him.

Wilt thou bring me down unto this troop? And he said —

Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt not put me to death, neither wilt thou surrender me into the hand of my lord, and I will bring thee down unto this troop.

¹⁶ So he brought him down, and lo! they were left to themselves over the face of all the

land, — eating, and drinking, and dancing around, for all the great spoil´ which they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. ¹⁷ And David smote them, from the closing twilight even unto the evening of the next day, — and there escaped not of them a man, save four hundred young men who rode upon camels, and fled, ¹⁸ And David rescued all whom the Amalekites had taken, — <his two wives also> did David rescue; ¹⁹ and there was nothing missing to them — whether small or great, whether spoil, or sons or daughters,^[3] or |any thing which they had taken unto themselves|, — <the whole> did David recover. ²⁰ And David took all the flocks and the herds, — they drave them before those other´ cattle, and they said, ||This|| is David's' spoil. ²¹ And David came unto the two hundred men who had been too wearied to follow David, and whom they^[4] had suffered to remain at the ravine of Besor, — and they came forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him, and when David came near unto the people, they^[5] enquired of his success.^{[6] 22} Then responded every man who was bad and abandoned, from among the men who had been with David, and said — <Because they went not with me^[7] there shall not be given them of the spoil that we have rescued, — save ||to every man|| his wife and his children, let them put them forth, then, and go. ²³ Then said David,

Ye shall not do so, my brethren, — with that which Yahweh hath given to us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. ²⁴ Who´ indeed, could hearken unto you, in this matter? Surely <like the share of him that went down into the battle > even ||so|| shall be the share of him that remained by the stores— ||alike|| shall they share. ²⁵ And so it came to pass |from that day forward| that he appointed it, for a statute and for a custom unto^[8] Israel, until this day. ²⁶ And <when David came to Ziklag> he sent of the spoil, unto the elders of Judah, unto his friends, saying, — Lo! ||for you|| a blessing,^[9] out of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh: ²⁷ to them who were in Bethel､ and to them who were in Ramoth of the South､ and to them who were in Jattir, ²⁸ and to them who were in Aroer､ and to them who were in Siphmoth､ and to them who were in Eshtemoa, ²⁹ and to them who were in Racal､

1. So it shd be (w. Sep.) — G.n.
2. So read; written, "son" — G.n.
3. So it shd be (w. Sep.) — G.n.
4. Some cod. (w. Aram., Sep., Syr. and Vul.): "he" — G.n.
5. So it shd be (w. Sep.) — G.n.
6. Or: "welfare"
7. Some cod. (w. 1 ear. pr. edn., Sep., Syr., Vul.): "us" — G.n.
8. In some cod. (w. 3 ear. pr. cdns.): "in" — G.n.
9. Or: "present" — Cp. chap. xxv. 27, n.