1 Samuel 30

When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire. They had taken captive the women in it, from the least to the greatest, without killing anyone. They had carried them away and gone on their way. When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives, sons and daughters taken captive. David and the people with him wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David’s two wives had also been taken captive: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel. David was in great distress, for the people spoke of stoning him. All the people were bitter in soul, each over his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. David said to Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding band? Will I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue them, for you will surely overtake them and surely rescue the captives.” So David set out with the six hundred men who were with him. They came to the Besor ravine, where those left behind stayed. David continued the pursuit with four hundred men. Two hundred men stayed behind, too exhausted to cross the Besor ravine. They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. They gave him bread to eat and water to drink. They also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. He ate, and his spirit revived, for he had eaten no food and drunk no water for three days and three nights. David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” He answered, “I am an Egyptian young man, a slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me because I fell sick three days ago. We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. We burned Ziklag with fire.” David asked him, “Will you bring me down to this raiding band?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will bring you down to this raiding band.” He brought him down, and there they were, scattered over the whole area, eating, drinking and celebrating because of all the great plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah. David struck them from twilight until evening the next day. Not one of them escaped except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing of theirs was missing, small or great, sons or daughters, plunder or anything that had been taken from them. David brought it all back. David took all the sheep and cattle. They drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.” David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and had been left at the Besor ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. David approached them and greeted them. Every evil and worthless man among those who had gone with David spoke up, “Since they did not go with me, we will give them none of the plunder we recovered, except each man’s wife and children. Let them take them and leave.” But David said, “You must not do this, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He protected us and delivered into our hand the raiding band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? The share of the one who goes down into battle will be the same as the share of the one who stays with the baggage. They will share alike.” From that day onward, he made this a statute and an ordinance for Israel, as it remains to this day. 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 LORD’s enemies.” He sent it to those in Bethel, those in Ramoth of the Negev and those in Jattir; to those in Aroer, those in Siphmoth and those in Eshtemoa; to those in Racal, those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and those in the towns of the Kenites; to those in Hormah, those in Bor-ashan and those in Athach; to those in Hebron and to all the places where David and his men had gone about.

Rights and attribution