thou? and whence art thou?' And he said: 'I am a young Egyptian, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. 14We made a raid upon the South of the Cherethites, and upon that which belongeth to Judah, and upon the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.' 15And David said to him: 'Wilt thou bring me down to this troop?' And he said: 'Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop.'
16And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the ground, eating and drinking, and feasting, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 17And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day; and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, who rode upon camels and fled. 18And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 19And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them; David brought back all. 20And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle, and said: 'This is David's spoil.'
21And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him; and when David came near to the people, he saluted them. 22Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows, of those that went with David, and said: 'Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.' 23Then said David: 'Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given unto us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. 24And who will hearken unto you in this matter? for as is the share of him that goeth down to the battle, so shall be the share of him that tarrieth by the baggage; they shall share alike.' 25And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
26And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying: 'Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord'; 27to them that were in Beth-el, and to them that were in Ramoth of the South, and to them that were in Jattir; 28and to them that were in Aroer, and to them that were in Siphmoth, and to them that were in Eshtemoa; 29and to them that were in Racal, and to them that were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them that were in the cities of the Kenites; 30and to them that were in Hormah, and to them that were in Bor-ashan, and to them that were in Athach; 31and to them that were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.
31Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2And the Philistines followed hard
364
