1 Samuel 25

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

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.

2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

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.

3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.

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.

4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.

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

5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said to the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:

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

6 And thus shall you say to him that lives in prosperity, Peace be both to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

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

7 And now I have heard that you have shearers: now your shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there anything missing to them, all the while they were in Carmel.

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.

8 Ask your young men, and they will show you. Why let the young men find favor in your eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray you, whatever comes to your hand to your servants, and to your son David.

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.’”

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

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

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

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

11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men, whom I know not from where they be?

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?”

12 So David’s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.

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

13 And David said to his men, Gird you 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 stayed by the stuff.

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.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.

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.

15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:

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.

16 They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

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

17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.

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!”

18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.

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

19 And she said to her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.

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

20 And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert on the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.

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

21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him: and he has requited me evil for good.

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.

22 So and more also do God to the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that urinates against the wall.

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

23 And when Abigail saw David, she hurried, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

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

24 And fell at his feet, and said, On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be: and let your handmaid, I pray you, speak in your audience, and hear the words of your handmaid.

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.

25 Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom you did send.

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.

26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, seeing the LORD has withheld you from coming to shed blood, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now let your enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

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.

27 And now this blessing which your handmaid has brought to my lord, let it even be given to the young men that follow my lord.

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

28 I pray you, forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil has not been found in you all your days.

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.

29 Yet a man is risen to pursue you, and to seek your soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.

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.

30 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you ruler over Israel;

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

31 That this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood causeless, or that my lord has avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.

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.”

32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent you this day to meet me:

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

33 And blessed be your advice, and blessed be you, which have kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

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

34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel lives, which has kept me back from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any that urinates against the wall.

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.”

35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said to her, Go up in peace to your house; see, I have listened to your voice, and have accepted your person.

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.”

36 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 very drunken: why she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

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.

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

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.

38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.

About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept his servant from evil: for the LORD has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.

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.

40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David sent us to you, to take you to him to wife.

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

41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let your handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

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

42 And Abigail hurried, and arose and rode on an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

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

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.

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

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

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