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 the Israelites assembled themselves together, and lamented for him, and 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 in Ma'on, whose business was in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was, while they were 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 the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigayil: and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful form; but the man was hard-hearted and evil in his deeds; and he was of the house of Caleb.

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

And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and ask him in my name after his well-being.

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

And ye shall say, May it thus be throughout thy life; and peace be to thee, and peace be to thy house, and unto all that thou hast be peace.

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 have I heard that thou hast sheep-shearers: now thy shepherds have been with us, we have not injured them, neither hath there aught been missing unto them, all the time they were at 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 it thee. Therefore let the young men find favor in thy eyes; for on a festive day are we come: give, I pray thee, whatsoever thy hand is capable of unto thy servants, and to thy son, to 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 they spoke to Nabal in accordance with all these words in the name of David; and then they 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 the servants of David, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? now-a-days there are many servants that break away every one 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?”

Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my sheep-shearers, and give it unto 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 about on their way, and returned, and came and told him in accordance with all these 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 unto 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.

But one of the young men told Abigayil, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; but he hath spoken rudely to 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.

Whereas the men have been very good unto us; and we have not been injured, neither have we missed any thing, all the time that we went about with them, while we were in the field:

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

A wall were they around us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them, feeding the flocks.

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 canst do; for evil is determined on against our master, and against all his household; and he is too greatly a worthless man for me 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 Abigayil made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, 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 unto her young men, Pass on before me: behold, I come after you. But to her husband Nabal she told nothing.

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 it was so, as she was riding on the ass, and coming down by the covert of the mount, that, behold, David and his men came down toward 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, Yea, for naught only have I guarded all that belongeth to this fellow in the wilderness, so that not the least was missed of all that pertained unto him; and he hath requited me evil instead of good.

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

So may God do unto the enemies of David, and do so yet farther, if I leave of all that pertaineth to him by the morning light, as much as a dog.

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

And when Abigayil saw David, she hastened, and alighted off the ass, and fell down 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 she fell at his feet, and said, On me, me, my lord, is the fault: and let thy hand-maid, I pray thee, speak in thy hearing, and listen to the words of thy hand-maid.

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, turn his heart unto this worthless man, unto Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and meanness is with him; but I thy hand-maid 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 the Eternal liveth, and as thy soul liveth, it is the Lord who hath withholden thee from coming to blood-guiltiness, and from helping thyself with thy own hand; and now may like Nabal be thy enemies, and those that seek [to do] my Lord evil.

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

And now this present which thy hand-maid hath brought unto my Lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow in the train 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.

Pardon, I pray thee, the trespass of thy hand-maid; for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house; because the battles of the Lord doth my lord fight, and evil will not be 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 though a man is risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: yet will the soul of my Lord be bound in the bond of life with the Lord thy God; and the soul of thy enemies will he hurl away, as out of the middle 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 the Lord will do to my lord, in accordance with all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and will ordain thee as 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 not be unto thee as a cause of offense and as a reproach of heart unto my lord, both by having shed blood without cause, and by my lord having righted himself; and when the Lord will do good unto my lord, then do thou remember thy hand-maid.

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 Abigayil, Blessed be the Lord, 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 intelligence, and blessed be thou, who hast prevented me this day from coming unto blood-guiltiness, and from helping 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 truly, as the Lord the God of Israel liveth, who hath withdrawn me from injuring thee, except thou hadst hastened and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left unto Nabal by the morning-light so much as a dog.

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.”

And David took out of her hand that which she had brought him; and unto her he said, Go up in peace to thy house: see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have respected thy presence.

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 Abigayil 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, and he was exceedingly drunken; wherefore she told him not a word, either little or great, 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.

But it happened 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 thereafter, that 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 heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath withheld his servant from evil; and the wickedness of Nabal hath the Lord returned upon his own head. And David sent and applied for Abigayil, to take her to himself for 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 Abigayil to Carmel, and they spoke unto her, saying, David hath sent us unto thee, to take thee to himself for 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.”

Thereupon she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thy hand-maid be a servant 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 Abigayil hastened, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with her five damsels that went in her train; and she went after 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.

David also took Achino'am of Yizre'el; and both of them became thus 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 Palti, the son of Layish, who was of Gallim.