I Samuelis 25

1 Mortuus est autem Samuel, et congregatus est universus Israël, et planxerunt eum, et sepelierunt eum in domo sua in Ramatha. Consurgensque David descendit in desertum Pharan.

Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2 Erat autem vir quispiam in solitudine Maon, et possessio ejus in Carmelo, et homo ille magnus nimis: erantque ei oves tria millia, et mille capræ: et accidit ut tonderetur grex ejus in Carmelo.

There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 Nomen autem viri illius erat Nabal. Et nomen uxoris ejus Abigail: eratque mulier illa prudentissima, et speciosa: porro vir ejus durus, et pessimus, et malitiosus: erat autem de genere Caleb.

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.

4 Cum ergo audisset David in deserto quod tonderet Nabal gregem suum,

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

5 misit decem juvenes, et dixit eis: Ascendite in Carmelum, et venietis ad Nabal, et salutabitis eum ex nomine meo pacifice.

David sent 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 Et dicetis: Sit fratribus meis et tibi pax, et domui tuæ pax, et omnibus, quæcumque habes, sit pax.

Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have!

7 Audivi quod tonderent pastores tui, qui erant nobiscum in deserto: numquam eis molesti fuimus, nec aliquando defuit quidquam eis de grege, omni tempore quo fuerunt nobiscum in Carmelo.

Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in Carmel.

8 Interroga pueros tuos, et indicabunt tibi. Nunc ergo inveniant pueri tui gratiam in oculis tuis: in die enim bona venimus: quodcumque invenerit manus tua, da servis tuis, et filio tuo David.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

9 Cumque venissent pueri David, locuti sunt ad Nabal omnia verba hæc ex nomine David: et siluerunt.

When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal all those words in the name of David, and waited.

10 Respondens autem Nabal pueris David, ait: Quis est David? et quis est filius Isai? hodie increverunt servi qui fugiunt dominos suos.

Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.

11 Tollam ergo panes meos, et aquas meas, et carnes pecorum quæ occidi tonsoribus meis, et dabo viris quos nescio unde sint?

Shall I then take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don’t know where they come from?”

12 Regressi sunt itaque pueri David per viam suam, et reversi venerunt, et nuntiaverunt ei omnia verba quæ dixerat.

So David’s young men turned on their way and went back, and came and told him all these words.

13 Tunc ait David pueris suis: Accingatur unusquisque gladio suo. Et accincti sunt singuli gladiis suis, accinctusque est et David ense suo: et secuti sunt David quasi quadringenti viri: porro ducenti remanserunt ad sarcinas.

David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!” Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed by the baggage.

14 Abigail autem uxori Nabal nuntiavit unus de pueris suis, dicens: Ecce David misit nuntios de deserto, ut benedicerent domino nostro: et aversatus est eos.

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

15 Homines isti boni satis fuerant nobis, et non molesti: nec quidquam aliquando periit omni tempore quo fuimus conversati cum eis in deserto:

But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields.

16 pro muro erant nobis tam in nocte quam in die, omnibus diebus quibus pavimus apud eos greges.

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

17 Quam ob rem considera, et recogita quid facias: quoniam completa est malitia adversum virum tuum, et adversum domum tuam, et ipse est filius Belial, ita ut nemo possit ei loqui.

Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, for he is such a worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him.”

18 Festinavit igitur Abigail, et tulit ducentos panes, et duos utres vini, et quinque arietes coctos, et quinque sata polentæ, et centum ligaturas uvæ passæ, et ducentas massas caricarum, et posuit super asinos:

Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

19 dixitque pueris suis: Præcedite me: ecce ego post tergum sequar vos: viro autem suo Nabal non indicavit.

She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal.

20 Cum ergo ascendisset asinum, et descenderet ad radices montis, David et viri ejus descendebant in occursum ejus: quibus et illa occurrit.

As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

21 Et ait David: Vere frustra servavi omnia quæ hujus erant in deserto, et non periit quidquam de cunctis quæ ad eum pertinebant: et reddidit mihi malum pro bono.

Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.

22 Hæc faciat Deus inimicis David, et hæc addat, si reliquero de omnibus quæ ad ipsum pertinent usque mane mingentem ad parietem.

God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”

23 Cum autem vidisset Abigail David, festinavit, et descendit de asino, et procidit coram David super faciem suam, et adoravit super terram,

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground.

24 et cecidit ad pedes ejus, et dixit: In me sit, domine mi, hæc iniquitas: loquatur, obsecro, ancilla tua in auribus tuis, et audi verba famulæ tuæ.

She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant.

25 Ne ponat, oro, dominus meus rex cor suum super virum istum iniquum Nabal: quoniam secundum nomen suum stultus est, et stultitia est cum eo: ego autem ancilla tua non vidi pueros tuos, domine mi, quos misisti.

Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

26 Nunc ergo, domine mi, vivit Dominus, et vivit anima tua, qui prohibuit te ne venires in sanguinem, et salvavit manum tuam tibi: et nunc fiant sicut Nabal inimici tui, et qui quærunt domino meo malum.

Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, since the LORD has withheld you from blood guiltiness and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek evil to my lord be as Nabal.

27 Quapropter suscipe benedictionem hanc, quam attulit ancilla tua tibi domino meo, et da pueris qui sequuntur te dominum meum.

Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

28 Aufer iniquitatem famulæ tuæ: faciens enim faciet Dominus tibi domino meo domum fidelem, quia prælia Domini, domine mi, tu præliaris: malitia ergo non inveniatur in te omnibus diebus vitæ tuæ.

Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the LORD’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days.

29 Si enim surrexerit aliquando homo persequens te, et quærens animam tuam, erit anima domini mei custodita quasi in fasciculo viventium apud Dominum Deum tuum: porro inimicorum tuorum anima rotabitur, quasi in impetu et circulo fundæ.

Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies as from a sling’s pocket.

30 Cum ergo fecerit Dominus tibi domino meo omnia quæ locutus est bona de te, et constituerit te ducem super Israël,

It will come to pass, when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel,

31 non erit tibi hoc in singultum, et in scrupulum cordis domino meo, quod effuderis sanguinem innoxium, aut ipse te ultus fueris: et cum benefecerit Dominus domino meo, recordaberis ancillæ tuæ.

that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

32 Et ait David ad Abigail: Benedictus Dominus Deus Israël, qui misit hodie te in occursum meum, et benedictum eloquium tuum,

David said to Abigail, “Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me!

33 et benedicta tu, quæ prohibuisti me hodie ne irem ad sanguinem, et ulciscerer me manu mea.

Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

34 Alioquin vivit Dominus Deus Israël, qui prohibuit me ne malum facerem tibi: nisi cito venisses in occursum mihi, non remansisset Nabal usque ad lucem matutinam mingens ad parietem.

For indeed, as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”

35 Suscepit ergo David de manu ejus omnia quæ attulerat ei, dixitque ei: Vade pacifice in domum tuam: ecce audivi vocem tuam, et honoravi faciem tuam.

So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.”

36 Venit autem Abigail ad Nabal: et ecce erat ei convivium in domo ejus quasi convivium regis, et cor Nabal jucundum: erat enim ebrius nimis: et non indicavit ei verbum pusillum aut grande usque mane.

Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light.

37 Diluculo autem cum digessisset vinum Nabal, indicavit ei uxor sua verba hæc: et emortuum est cor ejus intrinsecus, et factus est quasi lapis.

In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

38 Cumque pertransissent decem dies, percussit Dominus Nabal, et mortuus est.

About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, so that he died.

39 Quod cum audisset David mortuum Nabal, ait: Benedictus Dominus, qui judicavit causam opprobrii mei de manu Nabal, et servum suum custodivit a malo, et malitiam Nabal reddidit Dominus in caput ejus. Misit ergo David, et locutus est ad Abigail, ut sumeret eam sibi in uxorem.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. The LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife.

40 Et venerunt pueri David ad Abigail in Carmelum, et locuti sunt ad eam, dicentes: David misit nos ad te, ut accipiat te sibi in uxorem.

When David’s servants had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.”

41 Quæ consurgens, adoravit prona in terram, et ait: Ecce famula tua sit in ancillam, ut lavet pedes servorum domini mei.

She arose and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

42 Et festinavit, et surrexit Abigail, et ascendit super asinum, et quinque puellæ ierunt cum ea, pedissequæ ejus, et secuta est nuntios David: et facta est illi uxor.

Abigail hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43 Sed et Achinoam accepit David de Jezraël: et fuit utraque uxor ejus.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives.

44 Saul autem dedit Michol filiam suam, uxorem David, Phalti filio Lais, qui erat de Gallim.

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