1 Samuel 25

1 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.

And death came to Samuel; and all Israel came together, weeping for him, and put his body in its resting-place in his house at Ramah. Then David went down to the waste land of Maon.

2 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.

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; he was a great man and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats: and he was cutting the wool of his sheep in Carmel.

3 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.

Now this man was named Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail: she was a woman of good sense and pleasing looks: but the man was cruel and evil in his ways; he was of the family of Caleb.

4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

And David had word in the waste land that Nabal was cutting the wool of his sheep.

5 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.

And David sent ten young men, and said to them, Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and say kind words to him in my name;

6 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.

And say this to my brother, May all be well for you: peace be to you and your house and all you have.

7 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.

I have had word that you have wool-cutters: now the keepers of your sheep have been with us, and we have done them no evil, and taken nothing of theirs while they were in Carmel.

8 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.

If your young men are questioned they will say the same thing. So now, let my young men have grace in your eyes, for we are come at a good time; please give anything you may have by you to your servants and to your son David.

9 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.

And when David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal, in David's name, and said nothing more.

10 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.

And Nabal gave them his answer and said, Who is David? who is the son of Jesse? there are a number of servants in these days running away from their masters.

11 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?

Am I to take my bread and my wine and the meat I have got ready for my wool-cutters and give it to men coming from I have no idea where?

12 And David's young men turned about on their way, and returned, and came and told him in accordance with all these words.

So David's young men, turning away, went back and gave him an account of everything he had said.

13 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.

And David said to his men, Put on your swords, every one of you. And every man put on his sword; and David did the same; and about four hundred men went up with David, and two hundred kept watch over their goods.

14 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.

But one of the young men said to Nabal's wife Abigail, David sent men from the waste land to say kind words to our master, and he gave them a rough answer.

15 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:

But these men have been very good to us; they did us no wrong and nothing of ours was touched while we were with them in the fields:

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

But day and night they were like a wall round us while we were with them, looking after the sheep.

17 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.

So now, give thought to what you are going to do; for evil is in store for our master and all his house: for he is such a good-for-nothing person that it is not possible to say anything to him.

18 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.

Then Abigail quickly took two hundred cakes of bread and two skins full of wine and five sheep ready for cooking and five measures of dry grain and a hundred parcels of dry grapes and two hundred cakes of figs, and put them on asses.

19 And she said unto her young men, Pass on before me: behold, I come after you. But to her husband Nabal she told nothing.

And she said to her young men, Go on in front of me and I will come after you. But she said nothing to her husband Nabal.

20 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.

Now while she was going down under cover of the mountain on her ass, David and his men came down against her, and suddenly she came face to face with them.

21 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.

Now David had said, What was the use of my taking care of this man's goods in the waste land, so that there was no loss of anything which was his? he has only given me back evil for good.

22 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.

May God's punishment be on David, if when morning comes there is so much as one male of his people still living.

23 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.

And when Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her ass, falling down on her face before him.

24 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.

And falling at his feet she said, May the wrong be on me, my lord, on me: let your servant say a word to you, and give ear to the words of your servant.

25 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.

Let my lord give no attention to Nabal, that good-for-nothing: for as his name is, so is he, a man without sense: but I, your servant, did not see the young men whom my lord sent.

26 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.

So now, my lord, by the living God and by your living soul, seeing that the Lord has kept you from the crime of blood and from taking into your hands the punishment for your wrongs, may all your haters, and those who would do evil to my lord, be like Nabal.

27 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.

And let this offering, which your servant gives to my lord, be given to the young men who are with my lord.

28 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.

And may the sin of your servant have forgiveness: for the Lord will certainly make your family strong, because my lord is fighting in the Lord's war; and no evil will be seen in you all your days.

29 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.

And though a man has taken up arms against you, putting your life in danger, still the soul of my lord will be kept safe among the band of the living with the Lord your God; and the souls of those who are against you he will send violently away from him, like stones from a bag.

30 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,

And when the Lord has done for my lord all those good things which he has said he will do for you, and has made you a ruler over Israel;

31 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.

Then you will have no cause for grief, and my lord's heart will not be troubled because you have taken life without cause and have yourself given punishment for your wrongs: and when the Lord has been good to you, then give a thought to your servant.

32 And David said to Abigayil, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me;

And David said to Abigail, May the Lord, the God of Israel, be praised, who sent you to me today:

33 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.

A blessing on your good sense and on you, who have kept me today from the crime of blood and from taking into my hands the punishment for my wrongs.

34 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.

For truly, by the living Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from doing you evil, if you had not been so quick in coming to me and meeting me, by dawn there would not have been in Nabal's house so much as one male living.

35 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.

Then David took from her hands her offering: and he said to her, Go back to your house in peace; see, I have given ear to your voice, and taken your offering with respect.

36 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.

And Abigail went back to Nabal; and he was feasting in his house like a king; and Nabal's heart was full of joy, for he had taken much wine; so she said nothing to him till dawn came.

37 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.

And in the morning, when the effect of the wine was gone, Nabal's wife gave him an account of all these things, and all the heart went out of him, and he became like stone.

38 And it came to pass in about ten days thereafter, that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

And about ten days after, the Lord sent disease on Nabal and death came to him.

39 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.

And David, hearing that Nabal was dead, said, May the Lord be praised, who has taken up my cause against Nabal for the shame which he put on me, and has kept back his servant from evil, and has sent on Nabal's head the reward of his evil-doing. And David sent word to Abigail, desiring to take her as his wife.

40 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.

And when David's servants came to Carmel, to Abigail, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.

41 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.

And she got up, and going down on her face to the earth, said, See, I am ready to be a servant-girl, washing the feet of the servants of my lord.

42 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.

Then Abigail got up quickly and went on her ass, with five of her young women, after the men whom David had sent; and she became David's wife.

43 David also took Achino'am of Yizre'el; and both of them became thus his wives.

And David had taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, to be his wife; these two were his wives.

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

Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish of Gallim.