5. David's two wives had been captured. Their names were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel. Abigail was Nabal's widow.
6. David was greatly troubled. His men were even talking about killing him by throwing stones at him. All of them were very bitter because their sons and daughters had been taken away. But David was made strong by the Lord his God.
7. Then David spoke to the priest Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech. He said, "Bring me the linen apron." Abiathar brought it to him.
8. David asked the Lord for advice. He said, "Should I chase after the men who attacked Ziklag? If I do, will I catch up with them?" "Chase after them," the Lord answered. "You will certainly catch up with them. You will succeed in saving those who were captured."
9. David and his 600 men came to the Besor Valley. Some of them stayed behind there.
10. That's because 200 of them were too tired to go across the valley. But David and the other 400 continued the chase.
11. David's men found an Egyptian in a field. They brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat.
12. They gave him part of a cake of pressed figs. They also gave him two raisin cakes. After he ate them, he felt as good as new. That's because he hadn't eaten any food for three days and three nights. He hadn't drunk any water during that time either.
13. David asked him, "Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?" The man said, "I'm from Egypt. I'm the slave of an Amalekite. My master deserted me when I became ill three days ago.
14. We attacked the people in the Negev Desert of the Kerethites. We attacked the territory that belongs to Judah. We attacked the people in the Negev Desert of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag."
15. David asked him, "Can you lead me down to the men who attacked Ziklag?" He answered, "Take an oath in the name of God. Promise me that you won't kill me. Promise that you won't hand me over to my master. Then I'll take you down to them."
16. He led David down to where the men were. They were scattered all over the countryside. They were eating and drinking and dancing wildly. That's because they had taken a large amount of goods from those they had attacked. They had taken it from the land of the Philistines and from the people of Judah.
17. David fought against them from sunset until the evening of the next day. None of them escaped except 400 young men. They rode off on camels and got away.
18. David got everything back that the Amalekites had taken. That included his two wives.
19. Nothing was missing. Not one young person or old person or boy or girl was missing. None of the goods or anything else the Amalekites had taken was missing. David brought everything back.