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and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. But the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negev and against Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it down, 2 and taken captive the women and all who were there, both young and old. They did not kill anyone, but carried them off as they went on their way.
3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it burnt down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 David and his men wept loudly, until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been taken captive—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was in great danger, for the men were talking of stoning him. Each of them felt bitterly over the loss of his own sons and daughters, but David found strength in the Lord his God.
7 Then David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 So David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue these raiders. Will I overtake them?”
He answered him, “Pursue them, for you will certainly overtake them and carry out the rescue.”
9 So David set out with six hundred men and they went as far as the Besor Wadi, where some dropped out of the pursuit and were left behind. 10 David continued the pursuit with four hundred men, however two hundred were too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor and so were left behind.
11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. They gave him some bread to eat and water to drink. 12 Then they gave him part of a cake of pressed figs and two clusters of raisins. After he ate he revived, for had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.
13 Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?”
The young man answered, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I fell ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, and the territory belonging to Judah, and the Negev of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
15 David said to him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”
He replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will lead you down to them.”
16 So he led David to them, and there they were, spread out over the area, eating and drinking and revelling because of the great amount of plunder they had looted from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day, and none of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and he also rescued his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing—young or old, sons or daughters, plunder or anything that they had taken. David recovered everything. 20 David took all the flocks and herds, which they drove ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”
21 When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to continue and were left behind at the Wadi Besor, they went out to meet David and everyone with him. When David approached the men, he greeted them. 22 But all the mean and surly men and troublemakers among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil we have recovered. They can take their own wives and children and leave.”
23 But David said, “My brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us. 24 How could anyone agree to your proposal? No, the share for the men who stayed with the supplies will be the same as the share for everyone else who went down to the battle.” 25 So it was from that day forward, for David made it a statue and an ordinance for Israel that remains in place to this day.
26 When David came to 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.”
27 He sent gifts from the plunder to those who were in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negev, and in Jattir; 28 to those in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa, 29 and in Racal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, and the towns of the Kenites; 30 to those in Hormah, in Borashan, in Athach, 31 and in Hebron; and to those in all the other places where David and his men had roamed.