1 Samuel 25

¹ And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him, and buried him at his home at Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

² And there was a man in Maon whose business was 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 The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings. And he was of the house of Caleb.

⁴ When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep,

⁵ David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and when you have come to Nabal, and asked after his welfare in my name,

⁶ you shall say to him: Long life and peace to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!

⁷ Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we have not hurt them, nor has there been anything missing from them all the days they were in Carmel.

⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a pleasant day. Please give whatever your hand finds to your servants and to your son David.

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

¹⁰ And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days breaking away each one from his master.

¹¹ Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?

¹² So David’s young men turned around on their way, returned and came and reported to him all these words.

¹³ And David said to his men, Every man gird on his sword. So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴ Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David had sent messengers from the wilderness to bless our master; and he yelled at them.

¹⁵ But the men were very good to us, and we have not been shamed, nor have we missed anything all the days we have traversed with them, when we were in the fields.

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

¹⁷ Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is a son of worthlessness, that no one can speak to him.

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already done, five measures of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

¹⁹ And she said to her servants, Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰ And so it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; and she met them.

²¹ Now David had thought to himself, Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing has been missing of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good.

²² God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave to him by morning light any of those who urinate against a wall.

²³ Now when Abigail saw David, she hastened to dismount from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and prostrated to the ground.

²⁴ And she fell at his feet and said: On me, my lord, on me be this iniquity! And please let your handmaid speak in your ears, and hear the words of your handmaid.

²⁵ Please, let not my lord set his heart on this man of worthlessness, Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your handmaid, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

²⁶ Now therefore, my lord, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, since Jehovah has held you back from coming to blood and from delivering yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek evil upon my lord be as Nabal.

²⁷ And now this blessing which your handmaid has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who travel on foot with my lord.

²⁸ Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid; for Jehovah will bring about to prepare an established house for my lord, because my lord is fighting the battles of Jehovah, and evil is not found in you all your days.

²⁹ If a man arises to pursue you and seek your soul, the soul of my lord shall be bound up in the bundle of life with Jehovah your God; and the souls of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling.

³⁰ And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel,

³¹ that this will not be a matter of conscience, nor stumbling of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has delivered himself. But when Jehovah has dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.

³² And David said to Abigail: Blessed is Jehovah the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

³³ And blessed is your discernment and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to blood and from delivering myself with my own hand.

³⁴ For indeed, as Jehovah the God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hastened and come to meet me, surely by morning light there would not have been left to Nabal any who urinate against a wall!

³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought to him, and said to her, Go up to your house in peace. Behold, I have heeded your voice and respected your face.

³⁶ And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was exceedingly drunk; therefore she did not tell him a word, little or much, until morning light.

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

³⁸ And it came to pass, after about ten days, that Jehovah struck Nabal, and he died.

³⁹ And when David heard that Nabal had died, he said, Blessed is Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For Jehovah has returned the evil of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

⁴⁰ And when the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, David has sent us to you to take you to him for a wife.

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

⁴² And Abigail hurried and rose up and rode on a donkey, with five of her maidens going on foot; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

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

⁴⁴ And Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.