1 Samuel 30:3

3 So when David and his men arrived at the city, there it was, burned down, with their wives, sons and daughters taken captive.

1 Samuel 30:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:3

So David and his men came to the city
Or however to the place where it had stood, and where it now lay in ruins:

and, behold, [it was] burnt with fire;
the whole city was laid in ashes:

and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken
captives;
as it appeared afterwards; for upon their first coming they knew not but they were all destroyed; and which they might reasonably suppose from their former treatment of them, unless there were any left upon the spot which could inform them how things were, which does not appear, and which must make their distress the greater.

1 Samuel 30:3 In-Context

1 Three days later, when David and his men arrived in Ziklag, they found that the 'Amaleki had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had sacked Ziklag and burned it down;

2 and they had taken captive the women and everyone there, great and small. They hadn't killed anyone but had carried them off as they went on their way.

3 So when David and his men arrived at the city, there it was, burned down, with their wives, sons and daughters taken captive.

4 Then David and the people with him cried aloud until they had no more power to cry.

5 David's two wives had been taken captive - Achino'am from Yizre'el and Avigayil the widow of Naval from Karmel.