1 Samuel 30:8-23

8And 1David inquired of the Lord, saying, “2Shall I pursue this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, 3and you will certainly rescue everyone.” 9So David left, 4he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some who were left behind stayed. 10But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for 5two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor stayed behind.

11Now they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they provided him water to drink. 12They also gave him a slice of fig cake and two cakes of raisins, and he ate; 6then his spirit 7revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. 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, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master abandoned me when I became sick three days ago. 14We carried out an attack on 8the 9Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on 10the 11Negev of Caleb, and 12we burned Ziklag with fire.” 15Then David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this band of raiders?” And 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 band.”

16Now when he had brought him down, behold, they were dispersed over all the land, 13eating and drinking and celebrating because of 14all the great plunder that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17And David 15slaughtered them 16from the twilight 17until the evening of 18the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on 19camels and fled. 18So David 20recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and 21rescued his two wives. 19And nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, plunder, or anything that they had taken for themselves; 22David brought it all back. 20So David had 23captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of 24the other livestock, and they said, “25This is David’s plunder.”

21When 26David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David and 27had been left behind at the brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, then David approached the people and greeted them. 22Then all the wicked and 28worthless men among those who went with David said, “Since they did not go with 29us, we will not give them any of the spoils that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, so that they may lead them away and leave.” 23But David said, “You must not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, for He has protected us and handed over to us the band of raiders that came against us.