1 Samuel 25

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

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

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

7 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 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 spare to your servants and to your son David.’”

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

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

11 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 men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.

13 And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men strapped on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

14 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 screamed at them.

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

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

20 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 just said, “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 May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”

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

24 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 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, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

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

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

31 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 servant.”

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

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

34 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 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 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 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 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

39 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 her to become his wife.

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

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

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

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

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.

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 [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.

4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear 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 greet him in my name:

6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity], Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast.

7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.

8 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

9 And when David's young men came, they spake 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 be 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] unto men, whom I know not whence they [be]?

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

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 stuff.

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.

15 But the men [were] very good unto 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:

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

17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt 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.

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.

19 And she said unto her servants, 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 the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.

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

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

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

24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, [upon] me [let this] iniquity [be]: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.

25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, 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 thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

26 Now therefore, my lord, [as] the LORD liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to [shed] blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.

28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee [all] thy days.

29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, [as out] of the middle of 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 hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;

31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.

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

33 And blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.

34 For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

35 So David received of her hand [that] which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy 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 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.

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

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

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

41 And she arose, and bowed herself on [her] face to the earth, and said, Behold, [let] thine handmaid [be] 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 went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

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

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

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

2 And there was a man in Maon, and his substance in Carmel: and the man was of great substance, and had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats. And it came to pass, that he shewed his sheep in Carmel.

3 And his name was Nabal; and his wife's name was Abigail, and she was a woman of good understanding, and fair of face: but the man was hard and wicked in his doings, and was one of Caleb.

4 And it came to pass, when David was in the wilderness, that he heard Nabal shearing his sheep,

5 And he sent forth ten young men, and said unto them: Go up to Carmel, and when ye come to Nabal, greet him kindly for my sake.

6 And say, Peace be unto thee, and to thy house, and to all that thou hast.

7 I have heard that thou hast shearers. Now thy shepherds, which thou hast, have been with us; we have not mocked them, neither have they lacked in number all the days that they have been at Carmel.

8 Ask thy young men therefore, and they shall tell thee: and let the young men find grace in thine eyes: for we are come to a good day. Give unto thy servants, and unto thy son David, that which thine hand findeth.

9 And when the young men of David were come, and had spoken all these words unto Nabal because of David, they ceased.

10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? Now there are many servants that tear themselves from their masters.

11 Shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh, which I have slain for my shearers, and give them unto men whom I know not whence they are?

12 And the young men of David returned on their way: and when they were come again to him, they told him all these things.

13 And David said unto his men, Gird every man his sword upon him. And every man girded his sword upon him; and David girded his sword also upon him, and went up after him about four hundred men: but two hundred abode by the device.

14 And Abigail Nabal's wife said unto one of the young men, Behold, David hath sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our lord: and he snorted at them.

15 And they have been very good unto us, and have not mocked us, neither have we lacked in number as long as we have walked with them in the field,

16 But have been our walls day and night, all the days that we have kept the sheep with them.

17 Take heed therefore, and see what thou doest: for surely there is a calamity upon our lord, and upon all his house; and he is an unruly man, to whom no man may speak.

18 And Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two measures of wine, and five sheep boiled, and five measures of flour, and an hundred heads of raisins, and two hundred heads of figs, and loaded them upon asses.

19 And said unto her young men: Go before me; behold, I will come afterward. And she told not her husband Nabal.

20 And as she rode upon the ass, and went down in the darkness of the mountain, behold, David met her, and his men came down, and met her.

21 And David had said: For I have kept in vain all that this man hath in the wilderness, that nothing hath failed of all that he hath: and he hath paid me good with evil.

22 God do so, and more to the enemies of David, where I deliver unto this until light morrow one that pisseth against the wall out of all that he hath!

23 And when Abigail saw David, she came down quickly from off her ass, and fell on her face before David, and worshipped the earth.

24 And he fell down at his feet, and said, Alas, my lord, let this iniquity be mine; and let thy handmaid speak in thine ears, and hear the words of thy handmaid.

25 Let not my lord set his heart against this Nabal the hopeless man: for he is a fool, as his name is called, and foolishness is with him. But I thy handmaid have not seen the young men of my lord, whom thou hast sent.

26 But now, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, the LORD hath prevented thee from coming against the blood, and hath redeemed thy hand. Now therefore, as Nabal, so shall thine enemies be, and they that would do evil unto my lord.

27 Here is the blessing which thy handmaid hath brought unto my lord: give it unto the young men that walk under my lord.

28 Forgive the transgression of thine handmaid. For the LORD will make my lord an established house, because thou hast made war with the LORD: and let no evil be found in thee all the days of thy life.

29 And if a man rise up to persecute thee, and seek thy soul, the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD thy God: but the soul of thine enemies shall be slung with the sling.

30 When the LORD shall do all the good unto my lord, which he hath spoken unto thee, and shall command thee to be a duke over Israel,

31 Then it shall not be a shock nor an offence unto the heart of my lord, that thou hast not shed blood without a cause, and saved thyself: then shall the LORD be well pleased with my lord, and thou shalt remember thy handmaid.

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

33 And blessed be thy speech, and blessed be thou that thou hast saved me this day, that I have not come against blood, and have redeemed myself with mine own hand.

34 Verily, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, who hath prevented me from doing thee evil, if thou hadst not hasted to meet me, there would not have remained unto Nabal this bright morning one that pisseth against the wall.

35 So David took from her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace unto thine house: behold, I have hearkened unto thy voice, and have looked upon thy person.

36 And when Abigail came to Nabal, behold, he had prepared a feast in his house, as the feast of a king: and his heart was good with himself, and he was very drunken. And she told him nothing, neither small nor great, until the morning light.

37 And it came to pass, when it was morning, and the wine was come from Nabal, that his wife told him these things. And his heart was sore in his flesh, and he became as a stone.

38 And for ten days the LORD smote him, and he died.

39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, which smelled my reproach upon Nabal, and delivered his servant from evil: and the LORD hath recompensed the evil of Nabal upon his head. And David sent and spake unto Abigail, that he might take her to wife.

40 And when David's servants came to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying: David sent us unto thee, that he might take thee to wife.

41 And she arose, and worshipped upon her face to the earth, saying, Behold, here is thy handmaid, to minister unto the servants of my lord, and to wash their feet.

42 And Abigail made haste, and arose, and rode upon an ass, and five damsels that were under her, and went after David's messengers, and became his wife.

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

44 And Saul gave Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Lai of Gallim.