25:1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites assembled, and
lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David
arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
25:2 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.
25:3 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.
25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing
his sheep.
25:5 And 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 ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity],
Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thy house, and peace
[be] to all that thou hast.
25:7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy
shepherds who were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there
aught missing to them, all the while they were in Carmel.
25:8 Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore let
the young men find favor in thy eyes: for we come in a good
day: give, I pray thee, whatever cometh to thy hand, to thy
servants, and to thy son David.
25:9 And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal in the
name of David, according to all these words, and ceased.
25:10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who [is]
David? and who [is] the son of Jesse? there are many servants
in these days that break away every man from his master.
25:11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh
that I have killed for my shearers, and give [it] to men, whom
I know not whence they [are]?
25:12 So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and
came and told him all these sayings.
25:13 And David said to 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 goods.
25:14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife,
saying, Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to
salute our master; and he railed at them.
25:15 But the men [were] very good to 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:
25:16 They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the
while we were with them keeping the sheep.
25:17 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.
25:18 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 a hundred clusters of raisins,
and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid [them] on asses.
25:19 And she said to her servants, Go on before me; behold, I
come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
25:20 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 over against her; and she met them.
25:21 (Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that
this [man] hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed
of all that [pertained] to him: and he hath requited me evil
for good.
25:22 So and more also do God to the enemies of David, if I
leave of all that [pertain] to him by the morning light any
male person.)
25:23 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.
25:24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, [upon]
me [let this] iniquity [be]: and let thy handmaid, I pray thee,
speak in thy audience, and hear the words of thy handmaid.
25:25 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 thy handmaid saw not the
young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
25:26 Now therefore, my lord, [as] the LORD liveth, and [as] thy
soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withheld thee from coming to
[shed] blood, and from avenging thyself with thy own hand, now
let thy enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as
Nabal.
25:27 And now this blessing which thy handmaid hath brought to
my lord, let it even be given to the young men that follow my
lord.
25:28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thy 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.
25:29 Yet a man hath 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 thy enemies, them shall
he sling out, [as from] the middle of a sling.
25:30 And it will 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;
25:31 That this will be no grief to thee, nor offense of heart
to my lord, either that thou hast shed blood without cause, or
that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have
dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid.
25:32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed [be] the LORD God of
Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me:
25:33 And blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou, who
hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood, and from
avenging myself with my own hand.
25:34 For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth, who
hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted
and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by
the morning light any male person.
25:35 So David received from her hand [that] which she had
brought him, and said to her, Return in peace to thy house;
see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy
person.
25:36 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: Therefore she told
him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
25:37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine had left
Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart
died within him, and he became [as] a stone.
25:38 And it came to pass about ten days [after], that the LORD
smote Nabal, that he died.
25:39 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
himself for a wife.
25:40 And when the servants of David had come to Abigail to
Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David hath sent us to thee,
to take thee to him for a wife.
25:41 And she arose, and bowed herself on [her] face to the
earth, and said, Behold, [let] thy handmaid [be] a servant to
wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
25:42 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.
25:43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also
both of them his wives.
25:44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to
Phalti the son of Laish, who [was] of Gallim.
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