“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 of 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.” (1 Samuel 25:1-44 AV)
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