⁶ Also, David was in great distress because ^(A)the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were ^[a]embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But ^(B)David felt strengthened in the Lord his God.

⁷ Then ^(C)David said to ^(D)Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸ And ^(E)David inquired of the Lord, saying, “^(F)Shall I pursue this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, ^(G)and you will certainly rescue everyone.” ⁹ So David left, ^(H)he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some who were left behind stayed. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for ^(I)two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor stayed behind.

¹¹ Now 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. ¹² They also gave him a slice of fig cake and two cakes of raisins, and he ate; ^(J)then his spirit ^[b]revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ Then 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. ¹⁴ We carried out an attack on ^(K)the ^[c]Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on ^(L)the ^[d]Negev of Caleb, and ^(M)we burned Ziklag with fire.” ¹⁵ Then 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.”

¹⁶ Now when he had brought him down, behold, they were dispersed over all the land, ^(N)eating and drinking and celebrating because of ^(O)all the great plunder that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ And David ^[e]slaughtered them ^(P)from the twilight ^[f]until the evening of ^[g]the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on ^(Q)camels and fled. ¹⁸ So David ^(R)recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and ^[h]rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ And nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, plunder, or anything that they had taken for themselves; ^(S)David brought it all back. ²⁰ So David had ^[i]captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of ^[j]the other livestock, and they said, “^(T)This is David’s plunder.”