1 Samuel 30:1-18

1David and his men arrived at Ziklag three days after they left King Achish. They found that the Amalekites had attacked Ziklag and towns in the south of Judah. The Amalekites had destroyed Ziklag with fire.

2They had caught the women and the other people who were in the town, both young people and old people. They did not kill any of them, but they took them away as prisoners.

3So when David and his men arrived at Ziklag, they saw that the Amalekites had destroyed the city. The Amalekites had taken away their wives, their sons and their daughters as prisoners.

4David and his men wept loudly. They continued to weep until they had no strength to weep any more.

5The Amalekites had taken both of David's wives: Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel, who was Nabal's widow.

6David was very upset because his men were complaining. They wanted to kill him with stones. His men were very upset because they had lost their sons and their daughters. But David trusted the Lord his God to make him strong.

7Then David spoke to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son. David said to him, ‘Bring the priests' ephod to me.’ So Abiathar took the ephod to David.

8David asked the Lord, ‘Should I chase after the men who attacked our town? Will I catch them?’ The Lord answered, ‘Yes, chase after them and you will certainly catch them. You will rescue your families.’

9So David and his 600 men left Ziklag. They arrived at Besor stream. Some of the men were too tired to go across the valley. So 200 men remained there. David and the other 400 men continued to chase after the Amalekites.

11David's men found an Egyptian man in a field. They took him to David. They gave the man some water to drink and food to eat.

12They gave him some dried figs and some raisins. Then he became stronger, because he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days.

13David asked the man, ‘Who is your master? Where do you come from?’ The young man answered, ‘I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite man. My master left me here three days ago because I was ill.

14We had attacked the south part of Judah, where the Kerethites live. We also attacked the land where the people of Caleb's clan live. We destroyed Ziklag with fire too.’

15David said to him, ‘Can you take me to find these men?’ The man said, ‘Please promise me in God's name that you will not kill me. Promise me that you will not take me back to my master. If you do that, I will lead you to find them.’

16So the Egyptian man took David to find the Amalekites. The men were sitting everywhere, all over the ground. They were having a party, eating and drinking. They were happy because they had taken so many things from the towns of the Philistines and from the people in Judah.

17That evening, David attacked the Amalekites. The fight continued until the next evening. David and his men killed all the Amalekites except for 400 young men. Those 400 men rode away on their camels.

18David got back everything that the Amalekites had taken. And he rescued his two wives.