1 Samuel 30:1–19

David Recovers His Loved Ones

30Now^a when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. When they attacked Ziklag, they burned it with fire. ²They took captive the women^b who were in it, from the youngest to the oldest.^c They did not kill anyone, but carried them off and went on their way. ³When David and his men came to the city, they saw,^d and it was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until there was not enough strength in them to weep. ⁵Two of David’s wives had been taken captive. Ahinoam from Jezreel^e and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶And David was in a very precarious situation,^f for the people spoke of stoning him, for the souls of all the people were bitter, each one over his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.

⁷Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here for me.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Should I pursue after this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue them, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue them.” ⁹So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi^g Besor, but the rest remained. ¹⁰David pursued, he and four hundred men; but two hundred men stayed because they were too exhausted to pass over the Wadi Besor.

¹¹Then they found an Egyptian man in the open country and brought him to David, and they gave him food and he ate; they also gave him water. ¹²They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and this revived him,^h because he had not eaten food or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong,ⁱ and from where are you? The young man said, “I am an Egyptian young man, a servant of an Amalekite man, but my master abandoned me because I became ill three days ago. ¹⁴We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and that which belongs to Judah and then the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” ¹⁵So David asked him, “Will you take me down to this band of raiders?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master’s hand! Then I will take you down to this band.” ¹⁶So he took him down, and there they were,^j spread out over the surface of all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all of the abundant plunder which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped except^k four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. ¹⁸So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; David also rescued his two wives. ¹⁹None of theirs was missing from the smallest to the greatest,^l even sons and daughters, from the plunder up to everything they had taken for themselves; David brought back everything.