1Sam 25
1
And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and
buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, 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.
3
Now 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 of the house of Caleb.
4
And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5
And David sent 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:
6
and thus shall you say to him whom lives [in prosperity], Peace be to you, and peace
be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
7
And now I have heard that you have shearers: your shepherds have now been with us,
and we did them no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them, all the while
they were in Carmel.
8
Ask your young men, and they will tell you: wherefore 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.
9
And when David`s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words
in the name of David, and ceased.
10
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
Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers,
and give it to men of whom I know not whence they are?
12
So David`s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according
to 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 abode by the baggage.
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 at them.
15
But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything,
as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields:
16
they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping
the sheep.
17
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 cannot
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 grain, and a hundred clusters
of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
19
And she said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she
told not her husband Nabal.
20
And it was so, as she rode on her ass, and came down by the covert of the mountain,
that, behold, David and his men came 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 returned me evil
for good.
22
God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to
him by the morning light so much as one man-child.
23
And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and alighted from her ass, and fell before
David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.
24
And she fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity; and
let your handmaid, I pray you, speak in your ears, and hear you the words of your
handmaid.
25
Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this worthless fellow, 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.
26
Now therefore, my lord, as YHWH lives, and as your soul lives, seeing YHWH has withholden
you from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore
let your enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
27
And now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to
the young men that follow my lord.
28
Forgive, I pray you, the trespass of your handmaid: for YHWH will certainly make my
lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of YHWH; and evil shall not
be found in you all your days.
29
And though men be risen up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my
lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with YHWH your God; and the souls of your
enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.
30
And it shall come to pass, when YHWH shall have done to my lord according to all the
good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you prince over Israel,
31
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. And when YHWH
shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.
32
And David said to Abigail, Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, who sent you this day
to meet me:
33
and blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, that have kept me this day from
bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
34
For in very deed, as YHWH, the God of Israel, lives, who has withholden me from hurting
you, except you had hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to
Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child.
35
So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her,
Go up in peace to your house; see, I have hearkened to your voice, and have accepted
your person.
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: wherefore
she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37
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
And it came to pass about ten days after, that YHWH smote Nabal, so that he died.
39
And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be YHWH, that has pleaded
the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from
evil: and the evil-doing of Nabal has YHWH returned upon his own head. And David sent
and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
40
And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her,
saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to him to wife.
41
And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, your
handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42
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 also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives.
44
Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David`s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who
was of Gallim.