1 Samuel, Chapter 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 wealthy, 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 appearance: but the man was rude 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 to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:    6. And thus shall you say to him that lives in prosperity, Peace be both to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be unto all that you have.    7. And now I have heard that you have shearers: now your shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there anything missing for them, all the while they were in Carmel.    8. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes: for we come at a favorable time: give, I pray you, whatever comes to your hand to your servants, and to your son David.    9. And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased speaking.    10. And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants nowadays that escape 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 to men, whom I know not where they are from?    12. So David's young men turned their way, and went back, and came and told him all those sayings.    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 stayed 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 greet our master; and he insulted them.    15. But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither did we miss anything, as long as we were dwelling with them, when we were in the fields:    16. They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep.    17. Now therefore know and consider what you will 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 grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.    19. And she said to her servants, Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.    20. And it was so, as she rode on the donkey, that she came down behind the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down in front of her; and she met them.    21. Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him: and he has repaid me evil for good.    22. So and more also may God do to the enemies of David, if I leave of all that belong to him by the morning light any lad that waters the wall.    23. And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and got down off the donkey, 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 your handmaid, I pray you, speak in your audience, and hear the words of your handmaid.    25. Let not my lord, I pray you, 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 your handmaid did not see the young men of my lord, whom you did send.    26. Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, seeing the LORD has withheld you from coming to shed blood, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.    27. And now this blessing which your handmaid has brought to my lord, let it even be given to the young men that follow my lord.    28. I pray you, forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil has not been found in you all your days.    29. Yet a man has risen to pursue you, and to seek your soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God; and the souls of your 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 has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you ruler over Israel;    31. That this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without a cause, or that my lord has avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.    32. And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent you this day to meet me:    33. And blessed be your advice, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand.    34. For most certainly, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any lad that waters the wall.    35. So David received from her hand that which she had brought him, and said to her, Go up in peace to your house; see, I have heard and consented to your voice, and have accepted your 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: therefore she told him nothing, whether small or great, 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 struck Nabal, that he died.    39. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that has pleaded the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and has kept his servant from evil: for the LORD has returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and talked with Abigail, to take her to him as wife.    40. And when the servants of David had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.    41. And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let your handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.    42. And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon a donkey, 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.