ዳዊት አማሌቃውያንን አጠፋ
1በሦስተኛው ቀን ዳዊትና ሰዎቹ ጺቅላግ ደረሱ፤ በዚህ ጊዜ አማሌቃውያን ደቡቡን አገርና ጺቅላግን ወረው ነበር፤ ጺቅላግንም ወግተው አቃጥለው ነበር። 2ሴቶቹን፣ በዚያ የነበሩትን ወጣቶችና ሽማግሌዎቹን ሁሉ ማርከው ወሰዱ፤ የማረኩትንም ይዘው ከመሄድ በስተቀር አንዱንም አልገደሉም ነበር።
3ዳዊትና ሰዎቹ ወደ ጺቅላግ እንደ ደረሱም፣ እነሆ፤ ከተማዪቱ በእሳት ጋይታ፣ ሚስቶቻቸው፣ ወንዶችና ሴቶች ልጆቻቸው ተማርከው አገኙ። 4በዚህ ጊዜ ዳዊትና ሰዎቹ ማልቀስ እስከሚያቅታቸው ድረስ ድምፃቸውን ከፍ አድርገው አለቀሱ፤ 5ሁለቱ የዳዊት ሚስቶች ማለትም ኢይዝራኤላዊቷ አኪናሆምና የቀርሜሎሳዊው የናባል ሚስት የነበረችው አቢግያም ተማርከው ነበር። 6ሰዎቹ ስለ ወንዶችና ሴቶች ልጆቻቸው ነፍሳቸው ተመራ ሊወግሩት ስለ ተመካከሩ ዳዊት በጣም ተጨነቀ፤ ነገር ግን ዳዊት በአምላኩ በእግዚአብሔር በረታ።
7ከዚያም ዳዊት የአቢሜሌክን ልጅ ካህኑን አብያታርን፣ “ኤፉዱን አምጣልኝ” አለው፤ አብያታርም አመጣለት፤ 8ዳዊትም፣ “ይህን ወራሪ ሰራዊት ልከተለውን? እደርስባቸዋለሁን?” ሲል እግዚአብሔርን ጠየቀ።
እግዚአብሔርም፣ “በርግጥ ትደርስባቸዋለህ፤ ምርኮውንም ትመልሳለህ፤ ተከተል” ሲል መለሰለት።
9ስለዚህ ዳዊትና አብረውት የነበሩት ስድስት መቶ ሰዎች ወደ ቦሦር ወንዝ መጡ፤ ጥቂቶቹም በቦሦር ወንዝ ቈዩ፤ 10ሁለት መቶዎቹ እጅግ ዝለው ስለ ነበር ወንዙን መሻገር አልቻሉምና። ነገር ግን ዳዊትና አራት መቶ ሰዎች መከታተላቸውን ቀጠሉ።
11እነርሱም በምድረ በዳ አንድ ግብፃዊ አገኙ፤ ወደ ዳዊትም አመጡት፤ የሚጠጣውን ውሃና የሚበላውን ምግብ ሰጡት። 12እንደዚሁም የበለስ ጥፍጥፍ ቍራሽና ሁለት ደረቅ የወይን ዘለላዎች ሰጡት። ሦስት ቀንና ሦስት ሌሊት ምንም እህል ስላልበላ፣ ውሃም ስላልጠጣ ይህን ከበላ በኋላ ነፍሱ ተመለሰች።
13ዳዊትም፣ “አንተ የማን ነህ? የመጣኸውስ ከየት ነው?” ብሎ ጠየቀው።
እርሱም እንዲህ አለው፤ “እኔ ግብፃዊ ስሆን፣ የአንድ አማሌቃዊ ባሪያ ነኝ፤ ከሦስት ቀን በፊት ታምሜ በነበረበት ጊዜ ጌታዬ ጥሎኝ ሄደ። 14የከሊታውያንን ደቡብ፣ የይሁዳን ግዛትና የካሌብን ደቡብ ወረርን፤ ጺቅላግንም በእሳት አጋየናት።”
15ዳዊትም፣ “ታዲያ ወራሪው ሰራዊት ወዳለበት መርተህ ታደርሰኛለህ?” ሲል ጠየቀው።
እርሱም፣ “እንደማትገድለኝ ወይም ለጌታዬ አሳልፈህ እንደማትሰጠኝ በእግዚአብሔር ማልልኝ እንጂ እነዚህ ወራሪዎች ወዳሉበት አደርስሃለሁ” አለው።
16ዳዊትን ወደ ታች መርቶ ባደረሰው ጊዜም፣ ወራሪዎቹ ከፍልስጥኤማውያንና ከይሁዳ ምድር ከወሰዱት ታላቅ ምርኮ የተነሣ በየቦታው ተበታትነው ይበሉ፣ ይጠጡና ይዘፍኑ፣ ይጨፍሩም ነበር። 17ዳዊት፣ ከዚያች ዕለት ማታ ጀምሮ እስከ ማግሥቱ ምሽት ድረስ ወጋቸው፤ በግመል ተቀምጠው ከሸሹት አራት መቶ ወጣቶች በስተቀር፣ ከመካከላቸው ያመለጠ አንድም አልነበረም። 18ዳዊት አማሌቃውያን የወሰዱትን ሁሉ አስጣለ፣ ሁለቱንም ሚስቶቹን አስመለሰ። 19ትንሽም ሆነ ትልቅ፣ ወንዶችም ሆኑ ሴቶች ልጆች፣ ምርኮም ሆነ ሌላ፣ አማሌቃውያን ከወሰዱት ነገር ምንም የጐደለ አልነበረም፤ ዳዊት ሁሉንም አስመለሰ። 20እንዲሁም ዳዊት የበጉን፣ የፍየሉንና የላሙን መንጋ ሁሉ ወሰደ፤ ሰዎቹም “ይህ የዳዊት ምርኮ ነው” እያሉ መንጋውን ከሌሎች ከብቶች ፊት ለፊት ይነዱ ነበር።
21ከዚያም ዳዊት፣ እጅግ በመድከማቸው ምክንያት ሊከተሉት ወዳልቻሉት በቦሦር ወንዝ ቀርተው ወደ ነበሩት ወደ ሁለቱ መቶ ሰዎች መጣ፤ እነርሱም ዳዊትንና አብረውት የነበሩትን ሰዎች ለመቀበል ወጡ። ዳዊትና ሰዎቹ ወደ እነርሱ እንደ ቀረቡም ዳዊት ሰላምታ ሰጣቸው። 22ከዳዊት ተከታዮች ክፉዎቹና ምናምንቴዎቹ ሁሉ ግን፣ “አብረውን ስላልዘመቱ ካመጣነው ምርኮ አናካፍላቸውም፤ ነገር ግን እያንዳንዱ ሚስቱንና ልጆቹን ይዞ መሄድ ይችላል” አሉ።
23ዳዊትም እንዲህ አለ፤ “ወንድሞቼ ሆይ፤ የጠበቀን፣ የመጣብንንም ወራሪ በእጃችን የጣለልን እግዚአብሔር ነው፤ እርሱ በሰጠን ነገር ይህን ማድረግ አይገባችሁም። 24የምትሉትን ማን ይቀበላችኋል? ከጓዝ ጋር የቀረው ሰው ድርሻ ለጦርነት ከወጣው ሰው ድርሻ ጋር አይበላለጥም፤ ሁሉም እኩል ይካፈላሉ።” 25ዳዊትም ከዚያ ቀን ጀምሮ እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ ይህን ለእስራኤል ደንብና ሥርዐት አደረገው።
26ዳዊት ወደ ጺቅላግ በመጣ ጊዜ፣ ወዳጆቹ ለሆኑት ለይሁዳ ሽማግሌዎች፣ “ከእግዚአብሔር ጠላቶች የተገኘ ስጦታ እነሆ፤” በማለት ከምርኮው ላይ ከፍሎ ላከላቸው።
27ይህንም፣ በቤቴል፣ በደቡብ ራሞትና በየቲር ለነበሩ፣ 28በኦሮዔር፣ በሢፍሞት፣ በኤሽትሞዓና 29በራካል እንዲሁም በይረሕምኤላውያንና በቄናውያን ከተሞች ለሚኖሩ፣ 30በሔርማ፣ በቦራሣን፣ በዓታክ፣ 31በኬብሮን እንዲሁም ዳዊትና ሰዎቹ በተዘዋወሩባቸው ስፍራዎች ሁሉ ለነበሩት ላከላቸው።
David Destroys the Amalekites
1David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.
3When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.
7Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 8and David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”
“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”
9David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.
11They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.
13David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?”
He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.”
15David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”
He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
16He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”
21Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”
23David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. 24Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” 25David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.
26When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.”
27David sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; 28to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa 29and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; 30to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak 31and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.
