¹ And it cometh to pass, in the coming in of David and his men to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites have pushed unto the south, and unto Ziklag, and smite Ziklag, and burn it with fire,

² and they take captive the women who [are] in it; from small unto great they have not put any one to death, and they lead away, and go on their way.

³ And David cometh in -- and his men -- unto the city, and lo, burnt with fire, and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters have been taken captive!

⁴ And David lifteth up -- and the people who [are] with him -- their voice and weep, till that they have no power to weep.

⁵ And the two wives of David have been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite;

⁶ and David hath great distress, for the people have said to stone him, for the soul of all the people hath been bitter, each for his sons and for his daughters; and David doth strengthen himself in Jehovah his God.

⁷ And David saith unto Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, `Bring nigh, I pray thee, to me the ephod;' and Abiathar bringeth nigh the ephod unto David,

⁸ and David asketh at Jehovah, saying, `I pursue after this troop -- do I overtake it?' And He saith to him, `pursue, for thou dost certainly overtake, and dost certainly deliver.'

⁹ And David goeth on, he and six hundred men who [are] with him, and they come in unto the brook of Besor, and those left have stood still,

¹⁰ and David pursueth, he and four hundred men, (and two hundred men stand still who have been too faint to pass over the brook of Besor),

¹¹ and they find a man, an Egyptian, in the field, and take him unto David, and give to him bread, and he eateth, and they cause him to drink water,

¹² and give to him a piece of a bunch of dried figs, and two bunches of raisins, and he eateth, and his spirit returneth unto him, for he hath not eaten bread nor drunk water three days and three nights.

¹³ And David saith to him, `Whose [art] thou? and whence [art] thou?' And he saith, `An Egyptian youth I [am], servant to a man, an Amalekite, and my lord forsaketh me, for I have been sick three days,

¹⁴ we pushed [to] the south of the Cherethite, and against that which [is] to Judah, and against the south of Caleb, and Ziklag we burned with fire.'

¹⁵ And David saith unto him, `Dost thou bring me down unto this troop?' and he saith, `Swear to me by God -- thou dost not put me to death, nor dost thou shut me up into the hand of my lord -- and I bring thee down unto this troop.'

¹⁶ And he bringeth him down, and lo, they are spread out over the face of all the earth, eating, and drinking, and feasting, with all the great spoil which they have taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

¹⁷ And David smiteth them from the twilight even unto the evening of the morrow, and there hath not escaped of them a man, except four hundred young men who have ridden on the camels, and are fled.

¹⁸ And David delivereth all that the Amalekites have taken; also his two wives hath David delivered.

¹⁹ And there hath not lacked to them [anything], from small unto great, and unto sons and daughters, and from the spoil, even unto all that they had taken to themselves, the whole hath David brought back,

²⁰ and David taketh the whole of the flock, and of the herd, they have led on before these cattle, and they say, `This [is] David's spoil.'

²¹ And David cometh in unto the two hundred men who were too faint to go after David, and whom they cause to abide at the brook of Besor, and they go out to meet David, and to meet the people who [are] with him, and David approacheth the people, and asketh of them of welfare.

²² And every bad and worthless man, of the men who have gone with David, answereth, yea, they say, `Because that they have not gone with us we do not give to them of the spoil which we have delivered, except each his wife and his children, and they lead away and go.

²³ And David saith, `Ye do not do so, my brethren, with that which Jehovah hath given to us, and He doth preserve us, and doth give the troop which cometh against us into our hand;

²⁴ and who doth hearken to you in this thing? for as the portion of him who was brought down into battle, so also [is] the portion of him who is abiding by the vessels -- alike they share.'

²⁵ And it cometh to pass from that day and forward, that he appointeth it for a statute and for an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

²⁶ And David cometh in unto Ziklag, and sendeth of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, (saying, `Lo, for you a blessing, of the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah),'

²⁷ to those in Beth-El, and to those in South Ramoth, and to those in Jattir,

²⁸ and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa,

²⁹ and to those in Rachal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰ and to those in Hormah, and to those in Chor-Ashan, and to those in Athach,

³¹ and to those in Hebron, and to all the places where David had gone up and down, he and his men.

¹ `And thou, bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from the midst of the sons of Israel, for his being priest to Me, [even] Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, sons of Aaron;

² and thou hast made holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for honour and for beauty;

³ and thou -- thou dost speak unto all the wise of heart, whom I have filled [with] a spirit of wisdom, and they have made the garments of Aaron to sanctify him for his being priest to Me.

⁴ `And these [are] the garments which they make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and an upper robe, and an embroidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle; yea, they have made holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and for his sons, for his being priest to Me.

⁵ `And they take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the linen,

⁶ and have made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen, work of a designer;

⁷ it hath two shoulders joining at its two ends, and it is joined.

⁸ `And the girdle of his ephod which [is] on him, according to its work, is of the same, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.

⁹ `And thou hast taken the two shoham stones, and hast opened on them the names of the sons of Israel;

¹⁰ six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the second stone, according to their births;

¹¹ the work of an engraver in stone, openings of a signet, thou dost open the two stones by the names of the sons of Israel; turned round, embroidered [with] gold, thou dost make them.

¹² `And thou hast set the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod -- stones of memorial to the sons of Israel -- and Aaron hath borne their names before Jehovah, on his two shoulders, for a memorial.

¹³ `And thou hast made embroidered things of gold,

¹⁴ and two chains of pure gold, wreathed work thou dost make them, work of thick bands, and thou hast put the thick chains on the embroidered things.

¹⁵ `And thou hast made a breastplate of judgment, work of a designer; according to the work of the ephod thou dost make it; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen thou dost make it;

¹⁶ it is square, doubled, a span its length, and a span its breadth.

¹⁷ `And thou hast set in it settings of stone, four rows of stone; a row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle [is] the first row;

¹⁸ and the second row [is] emerald, sapphire, and diamond;

¹⁹ and the third row [is] opal, agate, and amethyst;

²⁰ and the fourth row [is] beryl, and onyx, and jasper; embroidered with gold are they in their settings,

²¹ and the stones are according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names, openings of a signet, each by his name are they for the twelve tribes.

²² `And thou hast made on the breastplate wreathed chains, work of thick bands, of pure gold;

²³ and thou hast made on the breastplate two rings of gold, and hast put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate;

²⁴ and thou hast put the two thick bands of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastplate;

²⁵ and the two ends of the two thick bands thou dost put on the two embroidered things, and thou hast put [them] on the shoulders of the ephod over-against its face.

²⁶ `And thou hast made two rings of gold, and hast set them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its border, which [is] over-against the ephod within;

²⁷ and thou hast made two rings of gold, and hast put them on the two shoulders of the ephod, beneath, over-against its front, over-against its joining, above the girdle of the ephod,

²⁸ and they bind the breastplate by its rings unto the rings of the ephod with a ribbon of blue, to be above the girdle of the ephod, and the breastplate is not loosed from the ephod.

²⁹ `And Aaron hath borne the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment, on his heart, in his going in unto the sanctuary, for a memorial before Jehovah continually.

³⁰ `And thou hast put unto the breastplate of judgment the Lights and the Perfections, and they have been on the heart of Aaron, in his going in before Jehovah, and Aaron hath borne the judgment of the sons of Israel on his heart before Jehovah continually.

³¹ `And thou hast made the upper robe of the ephod completely of blue,

³² and the opening for its head hath been in its midst, a border is to its opening round about, work of a weaver, as the opening of a habergeon there is to it; it is not rent.

³³ `And thou hast made on its hem pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, on its hem round about, and bells of gold in their midst round about;

³⁴ a bell of gold and a pomegranate, a bell of gold and a pomegranate [are] on the hems of the upper robe round about.

³⁵ `And it hath been on Aaron to minister in, and its sound hath been heard in his coming in unto the sanctuary before Jehovah, and in his going out, and he doth not die.

³⁶ `And thou hast made a flower of pure gold, and hast opened on it -- openings of a signet -- `Holy to Jehovah;'

³⁷ and thou hast put it on a blue ribbon, and it hath been on the mitre -- over-against the front of the mitre it is;

³⁸ and it hath been on the forehead of Aaron, and Aaron hath borne the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel do hallow, even all their holy gifts; and it hath been on his forehead continually for a pleasing thing for them before Jehovah.

³⁹ `And thou hast embroidered the coat of linen, and hast made a mitre of linen, and a girdle thou dost make -- work of an embroiderer.

⁴⁰ `And for the sons of Aaron thou dost make coats, and thou hast made for them girdles, yea, bonnets thou dost make for them, for honour and for beauty;

⁴¹ and thou hast clothed Aaron thy brother with them, and his sons with him, and hast anointed them, and hast consecrated their hand, and hast sanctified them, and they have been priests to Me.

⁴² `And make thou for them linen trousers to cover the naked flesh: they are from the loins even unto the thighs;

⁴³ and they have been on Aaron and on his sons, in their going in unto the tent of meeting, or in their drawing nigh unto the altar to minister in the sanctuary, and they do not bear iniquity nor have they died; a statute age-during to him, and to his seed after him.