1 Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. 2 They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone. 3 When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 4 they wept until they could weep no more. 5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, were among those captured. 6 David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God.
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Then he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring me the ephod!” So Abiathar brought it.
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Then David asked the Lord , “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?” And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”
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So David and his 600 men set out, and they came to the brook Besor.
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But 200 of the men were too exhausted to cross the brook, so David continued the pursuit with 400 men.
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Along the way they found an Egyptian man in a field and brought him to David. They gave him some bread to eat and water to drink.
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They also gave him part of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins, for he hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for three days and nights. Before long his strength returned.
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“To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?” David asked him.
“I am an Egyptian - the slave of an Amalekite,” he replied. “My master abandoned me three days ago because I was sick.
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We were on our way back from raiding the Kerethites in the Negev, the territory of Judah, and the land of Caleb, and we had just burned Ziklag.”
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“Will you lead me to this band of raiders?” David asked.
The young man replied, “If you take an oath in God’s name that you will not kill me or give me back to my master, then I will guide you to them.”