Then the king of the country where David was hiding gathered his armies to go fight against Israel. And the king called David to go with him to the battle.

If David fought with this king he would be fighting against his own people, the people God had said David was to be king over.

David didn’t want to hurt any of his own people. He was living in the enemies land and lying to the enemy’s king and now was called to fight against his own people.

But God was still with David and helping him. God caused the leaders of the enemies soldiers to be afraid to go to battle with David beside them, thinking David would turn and hurt them to help his own people.

The leaders of the enemies army demanded that their king send David back to his city and not let him and his men fight with them against Israel.

When David and his men got back to their city their families were gone and their houses burned.

The men were so angry they wanted to throw rocks

at David and kill him.

David prayed to God and asked God what to do.

God told David to chase after the men who had taken their families and their stuff and burned their houses.

God promised David that he would get back everything.

So David and his men followed the trail of the men who did it and found a man in the field almost dead.

They gave him food and water and asked who he was. The man told them he was with the men who had raided David’s village and taken their families.

David promised to help the man if he would show them were the raiders were. The man showed them where the raiders were hiding.

The men were eating and drinking and dancing and having a big party, happy because of all the stuff they took.

David and his men attacked the raiders, fought all day and night with them, and took back everything that had been taken. Nothing was missing like God promised.

David also took their flocks and herds and all their stuff and went back to his village.

On the way, some of David’s men didn’t want to share the great riches they had taken from the raiders with the men who were too tired to go all the way to the raiders hideout.

They said, We’ll give them their families and their own stuff. Then make them go away.

David said, No, my brothers, you will not do that with these riches that the Lord has given us who kept us alive, who beat our enemies, and who gave all these riches to us. Each man will get the same.

When David got back to his city he sent riches to all the people in Judah, his home country, who had helped him and his men over the years that he’d been hiding from Saul.

King Saul fought the Philistines and he was killed with his three sons, like Samuel had said.

Some brave men from Israel stole their bodies from the Philistines and buried their bones under a tree and were sad for them for seven days.