1 Samuel
Chapter 25
1 Samuel died; all the people of Israel met, mourned him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David left and went to the Paran wilderness.
2 In Maon, there was a man with a lot of property in Carmel. He was very rich, with three thousand sheep and one thousand goats, and he was cutting the wool off his sheep in Carmel.
3 The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife was named Abigail. She was smart and very beautiful, but Nabal was rude and did bad things. He came from Caleb’s family.
4 David learned in the desert that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5 David sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Carmel, visit Nabal, and say hello to him for me.”
6 You should tell the person who is doing well, “I wish you peace, and peace to your home, and peace to everything you own.”
7 I’ve heard you’re shearing sheep. Your shepherds stayed with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was stolen from them the whole time they were in Carmel.
8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So please, let your young men be treated well, because we have come on a good day. Please give whatever you can to your servants and to your son David.
9 When David’s men arrived, they told Nabal everything David had said and then stopped talking.
10 Nabal replied to David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? Many servants run away from their masters these days.”
11 Should I give my bread, water, and meat that I prepared for my shearers to men when I don’t know where they come from?
12 David’s young men turned back, went to him, and told him everything that was said.
13 David told his men, “Put on your swords.” They all put on their swords, and David put on his too. About four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with their belongings.
14 One of the young men informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Look, David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he insulted them.”
15 The men were very kind to us, and we were not harmed, nor did we lose anything, while we were with them in the fields.
16 They protected us day and night the whole time we were with them tending the sheep.
17 Now, understand and think about what you will do; for harm is planned against our master and all his family. He is so wicked that no one can talk to him.
18 Abigail quickly took 200 loaves, two bottles of wine, five cooked sheep, five servings of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 fig cakes, and put them on donkeys.
19 She said to her servants, “Go ahead of me; I’ll follow you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal.
20 As she traveled on the donkey, she passed by the hill’s hidden part, and there was David with his men coming toward her; and she met them.
21 David thought, “I protected this man’s property in the wilderness for nothing; nothing of his was lost, and yet he has repaid me with harm instead of good.”
22 God do the same and more to David’s enemies if by morning I leave alive any males.
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried, got off the donkey, fell in front of David with her face to the ground, and bowed down.
24 She fell at his feet and said, “Let the blame be on me, my lord, let the blame be on me. Please let me, your servant, speak to you, and listen to what I have to say.”
25 Please, do not pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for he is just like his name suggests: a fool. I, your servant, did not see the men you sent.
26 So now, my lord, since God is alive and your life is safe because God kept you from killing and taking revenge yourself, may your enemies and those who want to harm you become like Nabal.
27 This gift that I, your servant, have brought, let it be given to the young men who follow you.
28 Please forgive your servant’s mistake. God will surely give you a lasting home because you fight God’s battles, and you’ve done no wrong throughout your life.
29 A man has come to chase you and wants to take your life, but my lord’s life is safe with God, like in a protected bundle; and God will throw your enemies’ lives away, like stones from a sling.
30 When God does all the good things he promised you and makes you the leader of Israel;
31 This will not upset you or trouble your heart, if you have killed without reason or taken revenge. But when God is good to you, please remember me.
32 David said to Abigail, “God of Israel is blessed for sending you to meet me today.”
33 May your advice be blessed, and may you be blessed for stopping me today from killing and taking revenge by my own hand.
34 Truly, as the God of Israel lives, who stopped me from harming you, if you had not hurried to meet me, by morning, no male in Nabal’s household would have survived.
35 David took what she gave him and said to her, “Go home in peace. I have listened to what you said and I accept you.”
36 Abigail went to Nabal and saw he was having a big feast in his house like a king. Nabal was happy and very drunk, so she said nothing to him until morning.
37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober and his wife told him what happened, his heart stopped and he became like a stone.
38 About ten days later, God punished Nabal and he died.
39 When David learned Nabal had died, he said, “Praise God, who defended me against Nabal’s insults and kept me from doing wrong. God made Nabal’s evil come back on him.” Then David sent a message to Abigail, asking her to be his wife.
40 When David’s servants arrived at Carmel and met Abigail, they told her, “David sent us to bring you to him so you can become his wife.”
41 She stood up, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Please, let me be your servant to wash your servants’ feet.”
42 Abigail hurried, got up, and rode on a donkey, with five of her young women following her. She followed David’s messengers and became his wife.
43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, and she became one of his wives too.
44 Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Phalti, Laish’s son, from Gallim.