25:1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon.
25:2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
25:3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings.
25:4 While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.
25:5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.
25:6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
25:7 “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing.
25:8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”
25:9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.
25:10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days.
25:11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
25:12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word.
25:13 David said to his men, “Put on your swords!” So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
25:14 One of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail: “David sent messengers from the desert to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them.
25:15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.
25:16 Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them.
25:17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
25:18 Abigail lost no time. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
25:19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
25:20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them.
25:21 David had just said, “It’s been useless–all my watching over this fellow’s property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good.
25:22 May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”
25:23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.
25:24 She fell at his feet and said: “My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say.
25:25 May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name–his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent.
25:26 “Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal.
25:27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you.
25:28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD’S battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live.
25:29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.
25:30 When the LORD has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel,
25:31 my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD has brought my master success, remember your servant.”
25:32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.
25:33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.
25:34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”
25:35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”
25:36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until daybreak.
25:37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.
25:38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.
25:39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.
25:40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”
25:41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master’s servants.”
25:42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five maids, went with David’s messengers and became his wife.
25:43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.
25:44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
25:1 Then Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him; and they buried him at his house in Ramah. And David rose up and went down into the wilderness of Paran.
25:2 Now there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very wealthy: He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And at that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
25:3 And the man s name was Nabal, and his wife s name was Abigail. And the woman had good discernment and was beautiful in appearance. But the man was hard, and he was evil in his doings; and he was a Calebite.
25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
25:5 So 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.
25:6 And thus shall you say, Live long; and peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
25:7 Now therefore I hear that you have shearers; your shepherds have now been with us, and we have not harmed them, nor has there been anything missing from them, all the time they were in Carmel.
25:8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let these young men find favor in your sight, for we come in a good time. Give whatever you may have on hand to your servants and to your son David.
25:9 So David s young men went and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David; then they waited.
25:10 But Nabal answered David s servants and said, Who is David, or who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who break away from their masters.
25:11 Shall I then take my food and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?
25:12 Then David s young men turned back on their way. And they returned and came and told him all these things.
25:13 And David said to his men, Each man gird on his sword. And each man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And they went up after David, about four hundred men. And two hundred remained with the baggage.
25:14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal s wife, saying, David has just sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he shouted insultingly at them.
25:15 But the men were very good to us; and we were not harmed, nor did we miss anything all the time we went with them when we were in the fields.
25:16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day all the time we were with them tending the sheep.
25:17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do, because evil has been determined against our master and against all his house; for he is so worthless a man that no one can speak to him.
25:18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two skins of wine and five sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she put them on her donkeys.
25:19 And she said to her young men, Go on before me; I am coming right behind you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
25:20 And as she rode on her donkey and came down under the cover of the mountain, David and his men at that moment came down toward her; and she met them.
25:21 Now David had said, It was certainly in vain that I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that he has; for he has repaid me evil for good.
25:22 May God do so to David s enemies, and even more, if I leave so much as a male child of all that he has until morning.
25:23 And when Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from her donkey and fell on her face before David; and she bowed herself to the ground.
25:24 And she fell at his feet and said, Upon me alone, my lord, be this iniquity; and let your female servant speak in your hearing, and hear the words of your female servant.
25:25 May my lord not take this worthless man Nabal to heart. For as his name is, so he is: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your female servant did not see my lord s young men, whom you sent.
25:26 And now, my lord, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, since Jehovah has withheld you from entering into bloodshed and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek harm against my lord be like Nabal.
25:27 And now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
25:28 Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, for Jehovah will no doubt make a sure house for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of Jehovah; and no evil will be found in you throughout your days.
25:29 And though men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, my lord s life will be bound up in the bundle of the living with Jehovah your God; and the lives of your enemies He will sling out, as from the hollow of the sling.
25:30 And when Jehovah has done to my lord according to all the good He has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler over Israel,
25:31 This will not be a qualm of conscience to you or a stumbling block in heart to my lord, that you shed blood without cause or that my lord has avenged himself. And when Jehovah has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your female servant.
25:32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me.
25:33 And blessed be your discretion; and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from entering into bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
25:34 For surely as Jehovah the God of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, indeed there would not have been left to Nabal even a male child until morning s light.
25:35 So David took from her hand what she brought to him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have accepted your person.
25:36 And Abigail went to Nabal. And just then he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal s heart was merry within him, and he was extremely drunk; therefore she told him nothing, small or great, until the light of morning.
25:37 And in the morning, when the wine had left Nabal, his wife told him these things. And his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.
25:38 And about ten days later Jehovah struck Nabal, and he died.
25:39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal and who has withheld His servant from evildoing; and Jehovah has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent men to propose to Abigail, that he might take her to himself as wife.
25:40 And when David s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to himself as wife.
25:41 And she rose up and fell on her face to the ground. And she said, Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord s servants.
25:42 And Abigail hurried and rose up; and she rode on a donkey, with her five young women following her. And she went after the messengers of David, and she became his wife.
25:43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and both of them became his wives.
25:44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.