I Samuel 30

1. And it came to pass when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire.

2. And they had seized the women in it. They did not kill any, either small or great, but carried them away and went on their way.

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

4. Then David and the people with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

5. And David’s two wives had been seized, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail, the former wife of Nabal of Carmel.

6. And it greatly distressed David, for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, each one for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

7. And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod there to David.

8. And David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go after this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Go! For you shall surely overtake and will without fail recover all.”

9. So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.

10. But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to go over the brook Besor.

11. And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread, and he ate. And they made him drink water.

12. And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. Now when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights.

13. And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where do you come from?” And he said, “I am an Egyptian youth, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me because three days ago I fell sick.

14. We raided the area south of the Cherethites, in the territory belonging to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire.”

15. And David said to him, “Can you bring me down to this company?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this company.”

16. And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah.

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

18. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away. And David rescued his two wives.

19. And nothing was lacking to them, from the small to the great, even to sons and daughters, and from the spoil, even to all that they had taken to themselves. David recovered all.

20. And David took all the flock, and the herd. They drove on before those cattle. And they said, “This is David’s spoil.”

21. And David came to the two hundred who were too exhausted to follow David, whom they had made also to stay at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David, and to meet the people with him. And when David came up to the people, he greeted them.

22. And every evil and worthless man of the men who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any thing from the spoil that we have seized, except to every man his wife and his sons. Let them take them, and go.”

23. And David said, “My brothers, you shall not do so with that which the LORD has given us, for He has protected us and has delivered into our hand the company that came against us;

24. For who will listen to you in this matter? But as his part is that goes down to the battle, so shall be his part that stays by the provisions. They shall divide alike.”

25. And it was so, from that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

26. And David came to Ziklag, and sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Behold, a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD”:

27. To the ones in Bethel, and to the ones in Ramoth of the south, and to the ones in Jattir,

28. And to the ones in Aroer, and to the ones in Siphmoth, and to the ones in Eshtemoa,

29. And to the ones in Rachal, and to the ones in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to the ones in the cities of the Kenites,

30. And to the ones in Hormah, and to the ones in Chorashan, and to the ones in Athach,

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