1 Samuel 25

1 When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

Then Samuel died, and all of Israel gathered together, and they mourned him. And they buried him at his house in Ramah. And David, rising up, descended to the desert of Paran.

2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

Now there was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his possessions were at Carmel. And this man was exceedingly great. And three thousand sheep, and one thousand goats were his. And it happened that he was shearing his sheep at Carmel.

3 His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

Now the name of this man was Nabal. And the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a very prudent and beautiful woman. But her husband was hard-hearted, and very wicked, and malicious. And he was of the stock of Caleb.

4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.

Therefore, when David, in the desert, had heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep,

5 So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name

he sent ten young men, and he said to them: “Ascend to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name peacefully.

6 and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and your house and to all that belongs to you.

And you shall say: ‘Peace be to my brothers and to you, and peace to your house, and peace to whatever you have.

7 Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

I have heard that your shepherds, who were with us in the desert, were shearing. We have never troubled them, nor was anything from the flock missing to them at any time, during the entire time that they have been with us in Carmel.

8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son David.’”

Question your servants, and they will tell you. Now therefore, may your servants find favor in your eyes. For we have arrived on a good day. Whatever your hand will find, give it to your servants and to your son David.’”

9 When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.

And when the servants of David had arrived, they spoke to Nabal all these words in the name of David. And then they were silent.

10 But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters.

But Nabal, responding to the servants of David, said: “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today, servants who are fleeing from their lords are increasing.

11 Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”

Therefore, shall I take my bread, and my water, and the meat of the cattle that I have slain for my shearers, and give it to men, when I do not know where they are from?”

12 So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.

And so the servants of David traveled back along their way. And returning, they went and reported to him all the words that he had said.

13 And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men put on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

Then David said to his servants, “Let each one gird his sword.” And each one girded his sword. And David also girded his sword. And about four hundred men followed David. But two hundred remained behind with the supplies.

14 Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he scolded them.

Then it was reported to Abigail, the wife of Nabal, by one of his servants, saying: “Behold, David has sent messengers from the desert, so that they might speak kindly to our lord. But he turned them away.

15 Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them.

These men were good enough to us, and were not troublesome. Neither did we ever lose anything, during the entire time that we conversed with them in the desert.

16 They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.

They were a wall to us, as much in the night as in the day, during all the days that we were with them, pasturing the sheep.

17 Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

For this reason, consider and realize what you should do. For evil has been decided against your husband and against your house. And he is a son of Belial, so that no one is able to speak to him.”

18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys

And so Abigail hurried, and she took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five cooked sheep, and five measures of cooked grain, and one hundred clusters of dried grapes, and two hundred masses of dried figs, and she set them upon donkeys.

19 and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

And she said to her servants: “Go before me. Behold, I will follow after your back.” But she did not reveal it to her husband, Nabal.

20 As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

And when she had climbed on a donkey, and was descending to the base of the mountain, David and his men were descending to meet her. And she met them.

21 Now David had just finished saying, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.

And David said: “Truly, in vain have I preserved all that was his in the wilderness, so that nothing perished out of all that belonged to him. And he has repaid evil to me for good.

22 May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”

May God do these things, by the enemies of David, and may he add these other things, if I leave behind until morning, out of all that belongs to him, anything that urinates against a wall.”

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.

Then, when Abigail had seen David, she hurried and descended from the donkey. And she fell upon her face before David, and she reverenced on the ground.

24 She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.

And she fell at his feet, and she said: “May this iniquity be upon me, my lord. I beg you, let your handmaid speak to your ears, and listen to the words of your servant.

25 My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

Let not my lord, the king, I beseech you, set his heart upon this iniquitous man, Nabal. For in accord with his name, he is senseless, and foolishness is with him. But I, your handmaid, did not see your servants, my lord, whom you had sent.

26 Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

Now therefore, my lord, as your soul lives, and as the Lord lives, who has kept your hand to yourself, and has prevented you from coming to blood: now, let your enemies be like Nabal, and like all those who are seeking evil for my lord.

27 Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.

Because of this, accept this blessing, which your handmaid has brought to you, my lord. And give it to the young men who follow you, my lord.

28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

Forgive the iniquity of your handmaid. For the Lord will surely make for you, my lord, a faithful house, because you, my lord, fight the battles of the Lord. Therefore, let no evil be found in you all the days of your life.

29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.

For if a man, at any time, will rise up, pursuing you and seeking your life, the life of my lord will be preserved, as if in the sheave of the living, with the Lord your God. But the lives of your enemies will be spun around, as if with the force of a whirling sling.

30 When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel,

Therefore, when the Lord will have done for you, my lord, all the good that he has spoken about you, and when he will have appointed you as leader over Israel,

31 then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.”

this will not be for you a regret or a scruple of the heart, my lord, that you had shed innocent blood, or had taken revenge for yourself. And when the Lord will have done well for my lord, you shall remember your handmaid.”

32 Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!

And David said to Abigail: “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me. And blessed is your eloquence.

33 Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

And blessed are you, who prevented me today from going to blood, and from taking revenge for myself with my own hand.

34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

But instead, as the Lord God of Israel lives, he has prevented me from doing evil to you. But if you had not come quickly to meet me, there would not have been left to Nabal by the morning light, anything that urinates against a wall.”

35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

Then David received from her hand all that she had brought to him. And he said to her: “Go in peace to your own house. Behold, I have heeded your voice, and I have honored your face.”

36 When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

Then Abigail went to Nabal. And behold, he was holding a feast for himself in his house, like the feast of a king. And the heart of Nabal was cheerful. For he was greatly inebriated. And she did not reveal a word to him, small or great, until morning.

37 In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone.

Then, at first light, when Nabal had digested his wine, his wife revealed to him these words, and his heart died within himself, and he became like a stone.

38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

And after ten days had passed, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

39 On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking for her in marriage.

And when David had heard that Nabal was dead, he said: “Blessed is the Lord, who has judged the case of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and who has preserved his servant from evil. And the Lord has repaid the malice of Nabal upon his own head.” Then David sent and he spoke with Abigail, so that he might take her to himself as wife.

40 When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”

And David’s servants went to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, so that he might take you to himself as wife.”

41 She arose, then bowed facedown and said, “Here is your maidservant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

And rising up, she reverenced prone on the ground, and she said, “Behold, let your servant be a handmaid, to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

42 So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

And Abigail rose up and hurried, and she climbed upon a donkey, and five girls went with her, her attendants. And she followed the messengers of David, and she became his wife.

43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.

Moreover, David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel. And both of them were his wives.

44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Then Saul gave his daughter Michal, the wife of David, to Palti, the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.