And it was, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag; and they had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire.
And they had taken captive the women who were in it, from small to great. They had not put anyone to death, but had carried them off and gone on their way.
And David and his men came to the city — and look, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.
And David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until there was no strength in them to weep.
And David’s two wives had been taken captive — Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
And David was in great distress, for the people spoke of stoning him — for the soul of all the people was bitter, each man over his sons and over his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
David Destroys the Amalekites
And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring near to me, please, the ephod.” And Abiathar brought the ephod near to David.
And David asked of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue after this raiding band? Will I overtake it?” And he said to him, “Pursue — for you shall surely overtake, and surely rescue.”
And David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those left behind stayed.
And David pursued, he and four hundred men; and two hundred men stayed, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.
And they found an Egyptian man in the field and took him to David; and they gave him bread, and he ate, and they gave him water to drink.
And they gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate, and his spirit returned to him — for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.
And David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” And he said: “I am an Egyptian boy, servant to an Amalekite man; and my master abandoned me, because I fell sick three days ago.
We raided the Negev of the Cherethite, and what belongs to Judah, and the Negev of Caleb; and Ziklag we burned with fire.”
And David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this raiding band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not put me to death, and that you will not hand me over into the hand of my master, and I will bring you down to this raiding band.”
And he brought him down — and look, they were spread out over the face of all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating, with all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
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 on the camels and fled.
And David rescued all that Amalek had taken; and his two wives David rescued.
And nothing of theirs was missing, from small to great, sons and daughters, spoil, or anything they had taken for themselves — David brought it all back.
And David took all the sheep and the oxen; they drove them ahead of that livestock, and they said, “This is David’s spoil.”
The Spoils Are Divided
And David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, whom they had left at the brook Besor; and they came out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And David approached the people and greeted them with peace.
And every evil and worthless man among the men who had gone with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with me, we will not give them any of the spoil that we rescued — except to each man his wife and his sons; let them lead them away and go.”
But David said: “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has kept us, and has given the raiding band that came against us into our hand.
And who would listen to you in this matter? For as the share of the one who goes down into the battle, so is the share of the one who stays with the baggage — they shall share alike.”
And so it was from that day and onward: he made it a statute and a judgment for Israel, to this day.
And David came to Ziklag, and he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Look — a blessing for you, from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD”:
to those in Bethel, and to those in Ramoth of the Negev, and to those in Jattir;
and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa;
and to those in Racal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelite, and to those in the cities of the Kenite;
and to those in Hormah, and to those in Bor-ashan, and to those in Athach;
and to those in Hebron — and to all the places where David had gone about, he and his men.
The words beneath the translation. Tap one to study it.