15. David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?” He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
16. He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.
17. David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
18. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.
19. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
20. He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”
21. Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were.
22. But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”
23. David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.