1 Samuel 25:1-44
25 And Samuel died, and all Israel were gathered together, and made lamentation for him, and buried him within his own house in Ramah,—and David arose and went down into the wilderness of Maon.
2 Now there was a man in Maon whose cattle were in Carmel, and the man was exceeding great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats,—and so it was that he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail,—and the woman was of good understanding and of beautiful figure,—but the man was unfeeling and of evil practices and he was a Calebite.
4 So then David heard in the wilderness,—that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5 David, therefore, sent ten young men,—and David said unto the young men,—Go up to Carmel and enter in unto Nabal, and ye shall ask him in my name of his welfare;
6 and say thus—Long life to thee! Mayest thou prosper, And thy household prosper, And all that thou hast prosper!
7 Now, therefore, have I heard that thou hast shearers,—Well, the shepherds that thou hast have been with us, We reproached them not, Neither missed they anything, All the days they were in Carmel.
8 Ask thy young men that they may tell thee, That so my young men may find favour in thine eyes, For on a good day have we come! Give, I pray thee, what thy hand findeth to thy servants, and to thy son, to David!
9 So David’s young men came, and spake unto Nabal according to all these words in the name of David,—and waited.
10 Then Nabal answered the servants of David, and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Nowadays many are the servants that have broken away, every one from the presence of his lord:
11 Shall I then take my bread, and my wine, and my slain beasts, that I have slaughtered for my shearers,—and give unto men of whom I know not whence they are?
12 So the young men of David turned away for their journey,—and came back and drew near and told him, according to all these words.
13 Then said David unto his men—Gird on you every man his sword. And they girded on them 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 stores.
14 But a certain one of her young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying,—Lo! David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our lord and he treated them with contempt.
15 But the men were exceeding good to us,—and we were not harmed, neither missed we anything, all the days we went to and fro with them, while we were in the fields:
16 A wall became they unto us, both by night and by day, all the days we were with them tending the flock.
17 Now, therefore, know thou and see what thou canst do, for mischief is determined against our lord and against all his household,—but he is such an abandoned man that one cannot speak unto him.
18 Then Abigail hastened—and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep made ready, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs,—and put them on the asses.
19 And she said to her young men—Pass on before me, behold me coming after you; but to her husband Nabal told she nothing.
20 And so it was, as she was riding on her ass and descending within the covert of the hill, lo! David and his men descending over against her,—so she met them.
21 Now David had said—Surely in vain did I guard all that pertained to this man in the wilderness, so that there was nothing missed of all that he had,—seeing he hath returned to me evil for good.
22 So may God do to David and so may he add if I leave remaining of all that he hath until the morning,—so much as a little boy.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she hastened and alighted from off her ass,—and fell down before David upon her face, and prostrated herself on the ground;
24 yea she fell at his feet, and said—On me, even me, my lord, be the transgression,—But, I pray thee, let thy handmaid speak in thine ears, And hear thou the words of thy handmaid.
25 Let it not be, I pray thee, that my lord regard this abandoned man—Nabal; For as his name is so is he, Nabal [Base] is his name, and baseness is with him,—But I, thy handmaid, saw not the young men of my lord whom thou didst send.
26 Now, therefore, my lord—By the life of Yahweh, and By the life of thine own soul,—Seeing Yahweh hath withholden thee from coming in with bloodshed, and from saving thyself with thine own hand, Now, therefore, like Nabal be thine enemies, and they who are making search for my lord wrongfully.
27 Now, therefore, this blessing which thy maid-servant hath brought to my lord, let it even be given unto the young men who are going to and fro at the feet of my lord.
28 Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid,—for Yahweh will certainly make for my lord an assured house, for the battles of Yahweh is my lord fighting, and wrong shall not be found in thee all thy days;
29 yea, though there hath arisen a son of earth to pursue thee, and to seek thy life, yet shall the life of my lord be bound up in the bundle of the living with Yahweh thy God, but as for the life of thine enemies, he shall sling it out with the middle of the hollow of the sling.
30 And it shall be, when Yahweh shall do for my lord, according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee,—and shall put thee in charge as leader over Israel,
31 then shall this not become to thee a staggering and stumbling of heart unto my lord—that thou didst either shed blood without need, or that the hand of my lord saved himself. And when Yahweh hath dealt well with my lord, then remember thou thy handmaid.
32 Then said David unto Abigail,—Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who hath sent thee this day to meet me;
33 and blessed be thy discreet judgment, and blessed be thou thyself,—who hast kept me this day from coming in with bloodshed, and from saving myself with mine own hand.
34 Nevertheless, by the life of Yahweh, God of Israel, who hath restrained me from harming thee, surely, except thou hadst hastened and come to meet me, there had not been left unto Nabal by the light of the morning so much as a little boy.
35 So David received at her hand, that which she had brought him,—and unto herself he said—Go up in peace unto thy house, see! I have hearkened unto thy voice, and accepted thy person.
36 And when Abigail came unto Nabal, lo! he had a banquet in his house, like the banquet of a king, and the heart of Nabal was glad accordingly, he having drunk deeply,—so she told him nothing—less or more, until the light of the morning.
37 And it came to pass, in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, and his wife told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.
38 And it came to pass, in about ten days, that Yahweh smote Nabal that he died.
39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said—Blessed be Yahweh who hath maintained the plea of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and hath restrained his servant from wrong, yea, the wrong of Nabal hath Yahweh turned back on his own head. Then sent David and spake with Abigail, to take her to himself to wife.
40 And the servants of David came unto Abigail the Carmelitess,—and spake unto her, saying, David hath sent us unto thee, to take thee to himself to wife.
41 And she arose and bowed herself down with her face to the earth,—and said—Lo! thy handmaid, as serving-woman to bathe the feet of the servants of my lord.
42 And Abigail hastened and mounted and rode upon her ass, with her five damsels that used to journey at her feet,—and she went her way after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 David took Ahinoam also out of Jezreel,—and they two became his wives.
44 Saul, indeed, had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife,—to Palti, son of Laish, who was of Gallim.