1 Samuel 30

¹ When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire.

² They had taken captive the women who were in it, from the least to the greatest. They did not kill anyone but carried them off and went their way.

³ When David and his men came to the city, it was burned with fire, and their wives, sons, and daughters had been taken captive.

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

⁵ David's two wives had been taken captive—Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

⁶ David was in great distress, for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was bitter, each man on account of his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

⁷ David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

⁸ David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?" He answered him, "Pursue, for you will surely overtake them and will surely rescue."

⁹ David set out with the six hundred men who were with him. They came to the Wadi Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.

¹⁰ David continued the pursuit with four hundred men, but two hundred stayed behind because they were too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. They gave him bread and he ate, and they gave him water to drink.

¹² They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. He ate and his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.

¹³ David said to him, "To whom do you belong, and where are you from?" He said, "I am an Egyptian youth, the servant of an Amalekite man. My master abandoned me because I fell ill three days ago.

¹⁴ "We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire."

¹⁵ David said to him, "Will you lead me down to this raiding party?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and will not hand me over to my master, and I will lead you down to this raiding party."

¹⁶ He led him down, and there they were, spread out over the whole area, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

¹⁷ David struck them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.

¹⁸ David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.

¹⁹ Nothing of theirs was missing, from the least to the greatest, including sons and daughters, plunder, and everything they had taken. David brought it all back.

²⁰ David also took all the flocks and herds, which they drove ahead of the other livestock, and said, "This is David's plunder."

²¹ David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and the people with him. When David drew near to the people, he greeted them.

²² Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, "Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the plunder that we recovered, except that each man may take his wife and children and go."

²³ But David said, "You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the raiding party that came against us.

²⁴ "Who would listen to you in this matter? As is the share of the one who goes down into battle, so shall be the share of the one who stays by the supplies. They shall share alike."

²⁵ From that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel, to this day.

²⁶ When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, "Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the enemies of the LORD."

²⁷ He sent it to those in Bethel, those in Ramoth of the Negev, those in Jattir,

²⁸ those in Aroer, those in Siphmoth, those in Eshtemoa,

²⁹ those in Racal, those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, those in the towns of the Kenites,

³⁰ those in Hormah, those in Bor-ashan, those in Athach,

³¹ and those in Hebron—all the places where David and his men had roamed.