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.

And Samuel died; and all Israel were gathered together, and lamented him; and they buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness 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.

And there was a man at Maon, whose business was at Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and 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.

And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance; but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was a Calebite.

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

And David heard in the wilderness 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

Then David sent out ten young men; and David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

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

And thus shall ye say: Long life [to thee]! and peace be to thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be to all that thou hast!

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.

And now I have heard that thou hast shearers; now thy shepherds who were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missed by them, all the while they were 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.’”

Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee. Therefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes; for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, what thy hand may find to thy servants, and to thy son David.

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

And David's young men came, and spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

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

And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master.

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?”

And shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh which I have killed for my shearers, and give [it] to men whom I know not whence they are?

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

And David's young men turned their way, and went back, and came and reported to him according to all those words.

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.

And David said to his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword; and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the baggage.

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.

And one of [Nabal's] young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our master; and he has insulted them.

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.

And the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we companied with them, when we were in the fields.

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 both by night and day, all the while we were with them feeding 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!”

And now know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household; and he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot 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 Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two skin-bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched [corn], and a hundred raisin-cakes, and two hundred fig-cakes, and laid them on asses.

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 young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she did not tell 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 as she was riding on the ass, and coming down by the covert of the hill, behold, David and his men came down opposite to 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.

Now David had said, Surely, in vain have I kept all that this [man] had in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that was his; and he has requited me evil for good.

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

So and more also do God to the enemies of David, if I leave of all that is his by the morning light any male.

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

And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to 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 fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, [upon] me let the iniquity be; but let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear the words of thy handmaid.

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, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; and I thy handmaid did not see the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

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.

And now, my lord, [as] Jehovah liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, seeing Jehovah has restrained thee from coming with bloodshed, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

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

And now this blessing which thy bondmaid has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men that follow 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.

I pray thee, forgive the transgression of thy handmaid: for Jehovah will certainly make my lord a lasting house; because my lord fights the battles of Jehovah, and evil has not been found in thee all thy days.

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.

And if a man is risen up to pursue thee and to seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Jehovah thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out from the hollow of the sling.

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

And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah shall do to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee, and shall appoint thee ruler 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.”

that this shall be no stumbling-block to thee, nor offence of heart for my lord, either that thou hast shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. And when Jehovah shall deal well with my lord, then remember thy 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 be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me.

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 be thy discernment, and blessed be thou, who hast kept me this day from coming with bloodshed, and from avenging myself with mine 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 indeed, as Jehovah the God of Israel liveth, who has restrained me from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any male.

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.”

So David received of her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

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.

And Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was drunken to excess; so she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

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.

And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became [as] a stone.

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

And it came to pass in about ten days that Jehovah smote 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 heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil; but Jehovah has returned Nabal's evil upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her as his wife.

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

And the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee as his 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 she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman 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 hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

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

David had also taken Ahinoam of Jizreel; and they became, even both of them, his wives.

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

But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.