1 Samuel 30:1-9

David’s Wives Are Captured

1 Now when David and his men came to ¹Ziklag on the third day, ²the Amalekites had ³made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire

2 and taken captive the women and all^[a] who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.

3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.

4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

5 David’s ⁴two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke ⁵of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, ^[b] each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

7 ⁶And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod. ” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

8 ⁷And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this ⁸band? Shall I overtake them? ” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake ⁹and shall surely rescue. ”

9 So David set out, and ¹⁰the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.

1 Samuel 30:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 30

This chapter relates the condition Ziklag was in when David and his men came to it, the city burnt, and their families carried captive by the Amalekites, which occasioned not only a general lamentation, but mutiny and murmuring in David's men, 1Sa 30:1-6; the inquiry David made of the Lord what he should do, who is bid to pursue the enemy; and being directed by a lad where they were, fell upon them, and routed them, and brought back the captives with a great spoil, 1Sa 30:7-20; the distribution of the spoil, both to those that went with him, and to those who through faintness were left behind, 1Sa 30:21-25; and the presents of it he sent to several places in the tribe of Judah, who had been kind to him when he dwelt among them, 1Sa 30:26-31.

Cross References

• 1. 30:1 ch. 29:4, 11
• 2. 30:1 ch. 27:8; [ch. 15:3, 7]
• 3. 30:1 ver. 14
• 4. 30:5 See ch. 25:42, 43
• 5. 30:6 [Ex. 17:4; Num. 14:10]
• 6. 30:7 ch. 23:6, 9
• 7. 30:8 See ch. 22:10
• 8. 30:8 [1 Chr. 12:21]
• 9. 30:8 ver. 18
• 10. 30:9 See ch. 23:13

Footnotes

• [a] 30:2 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks 'and all'
• [b] 30:6 Compare 22:2