1S 25:1Then 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.
1S 25:2Now 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.
1S 25:3And 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.
1S 25:4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
1S 25:5So 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.
1S 25:6And 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.
1S 25:7Now 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.
1S 25:8Ask 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.
1S 25:9So David’s young men went and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David; then they waited.
1S 25:10But 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.
1S 25:11Shall 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?
1S 25:12Then David’s young men turned back on their way. And they returned and came and told him all these things.
1S 25:13And 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.
1S 25:14But 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.
1S 25:15But 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.
1S 25:16They were a wall to us both by night and by day all the time we were with them tending the sheep.
1S 25:17Now 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.
1S 25:18Then 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.
1S 25:19And she said to her young men, Go on before me; I am coming right behind you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
1S 25:20And 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.
1S 25:21Now 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.
1S 25:22May God do so to David’s enemies, and even more, if I leave so much as one male of all that he has until morning.
1S 25:23And 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.
1S 25:24And 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.
1S 25:25May 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.
1S 25:26And 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.
1S 25:27And now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
1S 25:28Please 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.
1S 25:29And 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.
1S 25:30And when Jehovah has done to my lord according to all the good He has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler over Israel,
1S 25:31This 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.
1S 25:32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me.
1S 25:33And 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.
1S 25:34For 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 one male until morning’s light.
1S 25:35So 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.
1S 25:36And 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.
1S 25:37And 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.
1S 25:38And about ten days later Jehovah struck Nabal, and he died.
1S 25:39And 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.
1S 25:40And 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.
1S 25:41And 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.
1S 25:42And 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.
1S 25:43David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and both of them became his wives.
1S 25:44Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
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