1On the third day David and his men came to Ziklag. The Amalekites had raided the south, and Ziklag too. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire.
2They had taken the women in it away as captives. They killed no one, neither great nor small, but carried them off and went on their way.
3So David and his men came to the city, and look, it was burned with fire. Their wives, their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.
4Then David and the people with him cried out loud and wept, until they had no strength left to weep.
5David's two wives had been taken captive: Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel.
6David was in great distress, for the people talked of stoning him. Every man was bitter in spirit over his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
7David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
8David asked the LORD, "Shall I chase after this band of raiders? Shall I catch up with them?" And he answered him, "Chase them. You will certainly catch up with them, and you will certainly get everything back."
9So David went, he and the six hundred men with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some of them stayed behind.
10But David kept up the chase, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, for they were too weary to cross the brook Besor.
11They found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave him bread, and he ate. They gave him water to drink,
12and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came back to him, for he had eaten no bread and drunk no water for three days and three nights.
13David said to him, "Who do you belong to? Where are you from?" He said, "I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. My master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick."
14"We raided the south of the Cherethites, and the land that belongs to Judah, and the south of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire."
15David said to him, "Can you take me down to this band of raiders?" 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 take you down to them."
16So he took him down, and look, they were scattered over all the ground, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
18David got back everything the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.
19Nothing was missing, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, nor plunder, nor anything they had taken. David brought it all back.
20David took all the flocks and the herds. His men drove them ahead of the other cattle and said, "This is David's plunder."
21David came to the two hundred men who had been too weary to follow him, the men they had left at the brook Besor. They came out to meet David and the people with him. When David came near to them, he greeted them.
22Then all the wicked men 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 we have brought back. Each man may take his wife and his children and go."
23Then David said, "You shall not do that, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has kept us safe, and he handed over to us the band that came against us."
24"Who will listen to you in this matter? The share of the man who goes down to the battle shall be the same as the share of the man who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike."
25From that day on it was so. He made it a rule and a law for Israel, and it is so to this day.
26When 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."
27He sent it to those in Bethel, and to those in Ramoth of the south, and to those in Jattir,
28and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa,
29and to those in Rachal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites,
30and to those in Hormah, and to those in Chorashan, and to those in Athach,