David Defeats the Amalekites

¹Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the south as far as Ziklag. They had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire.[#1Sa 15:7]

²They had taken as captives all the women who were there. They did not kill anyone, but carried them off and went on their way.[#1Sa 27:11]

³David and his men came to the city, and they found it burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters taken captive.

⁴So David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no strength in them to weep.[#Nu 14:1]

⁵Now David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.[#1Sa 25:42–43; 2Sa 2:2]

⁶David was greatly distressed, for the people talked of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit, each over his sons and daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.[#Ex 17:4; Nu 14:10]

⁷And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod to me.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.[#1Sa 22:20–21]

⁸David inquired at the Lord , saying, “Should I pursue after this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”[#1Sa 23:2, 4]

And He answered him, “Pursue them, for you will surely overtake them and will surely recover all.”

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

¹⁰But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross over the brook Besor remained behind.[#1Sa 30:21]

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

¹²And they gave him a part of a cake of figs and two cakes of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came back to him, for he had not eaten bread or drunk any water for three days and nights.[#Jdg 15:19; 1Sa 14:27]

¹³Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?”

And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.

¹⁴We raided the south of the Kerethites, the south of Judah, and the south of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire.”[#2Sa 8:18; 1Ki 1:38]

¹⁵David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this raiding party?”

And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will bring you down to this raiding party.”

¹⁶When he brought him down, behold, they were spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

¹⁷David struck them from twilight until the evening of the next day, and no man escaped except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.[#1Sa 11:11]

¹⁸So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.

¹⁹Now there was nothing missing, from the smallest thing to the greatest, neither sons, nor daughters, or plunder, or anything which they had taken. David brought back all of it.[#1Sa 30:8]

²⁰And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before the other livestock. And they said, “This is David’s spoil.”[#1Sa 30:26]

²¹Then David came to the two hundred men, who were too exhausted to follow David, whom they left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people, he greeted them.[#1Sa 30:10]

²²Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them anything from the spoil that we have rescued, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.”

²³Then David said, “You will not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, for He has preserved us, and has delivered into our hand the raiding party that came against us.

²⁴And who will listen to you in this matter? Indeed as the share is of the one going down to battle, so will be the share of the one staying with the equipment. They will share equally.”[#Nu 31:27; Jos 22:8]

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

²⁶When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift to you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord ”:[#1Sa 25:27]

²⁷to those who were in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negev, and in Jattir;[#Jos 19:8; #Jos 15:48]

²⁸to those who were in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa,[#Jos 13:16; #Jos 15:50]

²⁹and in Rakal; to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites;[#Jdg 1:16; 1Sa 27:10]

³⁰to those who were in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak[#Jos 19:4; Jdg 1:17]

³¹and in Hebron; and to those who were in all the other places where David and his men had roamed.[#2Sa 2:1]