1 On the third day David and his men reached Ziklag. The Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag; they had attacked Ziklag and burned it down,
2 and had carried off the women in it, young and old alike. They killed no one, but drove them off and went on their way.
3 When David and his men came to the town, there it was, burned to the ground, and their wives, sons and daughters carried off as captives.
4 David and the troops with him wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.
5 David's two wives had been carried off as well, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
6 David was in great danger, because the troops were talking of stoning him; every one of them was bitter in soul over his sons and daughters. But David took strength in the LORD his God.
7 David told Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod, please," and Abiathar brought the ephod over to David.
8 David asked the LORD, "Shall I go after this band? Will I catch up with them?" He told him, "Go after them; you will certainly catch up with them, and you will certainly carry out a rescue."
9 So David set off with the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Besor ravine, where some stayed behind.
10 David kept up the chase with four hundred men; two hundred stayed behind, too worn out to cross the Besor ravine.
11 In the countryside they came upon an Egyptian and took him to David. They gave him bread to eat and water to drink,
12 and gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes. He ate, and his spirit came back to him, for he had had no bread to eat or water to drink for three days and three nights.
13 David asked him, "Whose are you, and where do you come from?" He said, "I am a young Egyptian, slave to an Amalekite. My master left me behind three days ago because I fell ill.
14 We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag down."
15 David asked him, "Will you lead me down to this band?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or turn me over to my master, and I will lead you down to this band."
16 He led him down, and there they were, scattered all over the ground, eating, drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17 David struck them down from dusk until the evening of the following day. Not one of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.
19 Nothing of theirs was missing, small or great, son or daughter, spoil or anything that had been taken; David brought back everything.
20 David took all the flocks and herds, and they drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's spoil."
21 David came to the two hundred men who had been too worn out to follow David, whom they had left at the Besor ravine. They came out to meet David and the troops with him; David approached the troops and asked how they were.
22 But all the evil and worthless men among those who had gone with David spoke up: "Since they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil we recovered. Each man can have his wife and children; let them take them and go."
23 David said, "My brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has kept us safe and handed over to us the band that came against us.
24 Who would listen to you on this? The share of the one who goes down into battle and the share of the one who stays with the supplies will be the same; they will share alike."
25 From that day on he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel, as it is to this day.
26 When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends, with the message, "Here is a blessing for you from the spoil of the LORD's enemies":
27 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 those in Hebron, and all the places where David and his men had gone about.