1 Samuel 25
- 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 on 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.
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