David Destroys the Amalekites

David calls for the ephod and asks the LORD whether he should pursue, and the answer sends him forward with confidence. He goes out with six hundred men, though two hundred are too exhausted to cross the Brook of Besor.

T⁷hen David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” ⁸So Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the LORD: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?” ⁹So David and his six hundred men went to the Brook of Besor, where some stayed behind ¹⁰because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.

David's men find an abandoned Egyptian servant in the field, revive him with food and water, and learn that he belongs to the Amalekites who burned Ziklag. Once restored, he agrees to lead David to the raiders.

¹¹Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat — ¹²a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins. So he ate and was revived, for he had not had any food or water for three days and three nights. ¹³Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” ¹⁴“I am an Egyptian,” he replied, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me three days ago when I fell ill. We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned down Ziklag.” ¹⁵“Will you lead me to these raiders?” David asked.

The Egyptian leads David to the Amalekites as they feast over their plunder, and David strikes them down through the next day. Everything taken from Ziklag is recovered, nothing is missing, and the returning force drives off additional livestock as spoil.

¹⁶So he led David down, and there were the Amalekites spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and celebrating the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah. ¹⁷And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels. ¹⁸So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. ¹⁹Nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David brought everything back. ²⁰And he took all the flocks and herds, which his men drove ahead of the other livestock, calling out, “This is David’s plunder!”