1 Samuel 25
25
David, Nabal and Abigail
1When Samuel died, the whole nation of Israel gathered together. They were filled with sorrow because he was dead. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David went down into the Desert of Paran.
2A certain man in Maon was very wealthy. He owned property there at Carmel. He had 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep. He was clipping the wool off the sheep in Carmel. 3His name was Nabal. His wife’s name was Abigail. She was a wise and beautiful woman. But her husband was rude and mean in the way he treated others. He was from the family of Caleb.
4David was staying in the Desert of Paran. While he was there, he heard that Nabal was clipping the wool off his sheep. 5So he sent for ten young men. He said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him for me. 6Say to him, ‘May you live a long time! May everything go well with you and your family! And may things go well with everything that belongs to you!
7“ ‘I hear that you are clipping the wool off your sheep. When your shepherds were with us, we treated them well. The whole time they were at Carmel nothing that belonged to them was stolen. 8Ask your own servants. They’ll tell you. We’ve come to you now at a happy time of the year. Please be kind to my men. Please give me and my men anything you can find for us.’ ”
9When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal the message from David. Then they waited.
10Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are running away from their masters these days. 11Why should I give away my bread and water? Why should I give away the meat I’ve prepared for those who clip the wool off my sheep? Why should I give food to men who come from who knows where?”
12So David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported to David every word Nabal had spoken. 13David said to his men, “Each of you put on your swords!” So they did. David put his sword on too. About 400 men went up with David. Two hundred men stayed behind with the supplies.
14One of the servants warned Abigail, Nabal’s wife. He said, “David sent some messengers from the desert to give his greetings to our master. But Nabal shouted at them and was rude to them. 15David’s men had been very good to us. They treated us well. The whole time we were near them out in the fields, nothing was stolen. 16We were taking care of our sheep near them. During that time, they were like a wall around us night and day. They kept us safe. 17Now think it over. See what you can do. Horrible trouble will soon come to our master and his whole family. He’s such an evil man that no one can even talk to him.”
18Abigail didn’t waste any time. She got 200 loaves of bread and two bottles of wine. The bottles were made out of animal skins. She got five sheep that were ready to be cooked. She got a bushel of grain that had been cooked. She got 100 raisin cakes. And she got 200 cakes of pressed figs. She loaded all of it on the backs of donkeys. 19Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead. I’ll follow you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal about it.
20Abigail rode her donkey into a mountain valley. There she saw David and his men. They were coming down toward her. 21David had just said, “Everything we’ve done hasn’t been worth a thing! I watched over that fellow’s property in the desert. I made sure none of it was stolen. But he has paid me back evil for good. 22I won’t leave even one of his men alive until morning. If I do, may God punish me greatly!”
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey. She bowed down in front of David with her face toward the ground. 24She fell at his feet. She said, “Pardon your servant, sir. Please let me speak to you. Listen to what I’m saying. Let me take the blame myself. 25Please don’t pay any attention to that evil man Nabal. His name means Foolish Person. And that’s exactly what he is. He’s always doing foolish things. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to see the men you sent. 26Sir, the Lord has kept you from killing Nabal and his men. He has kept you from using your own hands to get even. So may what’s about to happen to Nabal happen to all your enemies. May it happen to everyone who wants to harm you. And may it happen just as surely as the Lord your God and you are alive. 27I’ve brought a gift for you. Give it to the men who follow you.
28“Please forgive me if I shouldn’t have done that. The Lord your God will certainly give you and your family line a kingdom that will last. That’s because you fight the Lord’s battles. You won’t do anything wrong as long as you live. 29Someone may chase you and try to kill you. But the Lord your God will keep your life safe like a treasure hidden in a bag. And he’ll destroy your enemies. Their lives will be thrown away, just as a stone is thrown from a sling. 30The Lord will do for you every good thing he promised to do. He’ll appoint you ruler over Israel. 31When that happens, you won’t have this heavy load on your mind. You won’t have to worry about how you killed people without any reason. You won’t have to worry about how you got even. The Lord your God will give you success. When that happens, please remember me.”
32David said to Abigail, “Give praise to the Lord. He is the God of Israel. He has sent you today to find me. 33May the Lord bless you for what you have done. You have shown a lot of good sense. You have kept me from killing Nabal and his men this day. You have kept me from using my own hands to get even. 34It’s a good thing you came quickly to meet me. If you hadn’t come, not one of Nabal’s men would have been left alive by sunrise. And that’s just as sure as the Lord, the God of Israel, is alive. He has kept me from harming you.”
35Then David accepted from her what she had brought him. He said, “Go home in peace. I’ve heard your words. I’ll do what you have asked.”
36Abigail went back to Nabal. He was having a dinner party in the house. It was the kind of dinner a king would have. He had been drinking too much wine. He was very drunk. So she didn’t tell him anything at all until sunrise. 37The next morning Nabal wasn’t drunk anymore. Then his wife told him everything. When she did, his heart grew weak. He became like a stone. 38About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal down. And he died.
39David heard that Nabal was dead. So he said, “Give praise to the Lord. Nabal was rude to me. But the Lord stood up for me. He has kept me from doing something wrong. He has paid Nabal back for the wrong things he did.”
Then David sent a message to Abigail. He asked her to become his wife. 40His servants went to Carmel. They said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you. He wants you to come back with us and become his wife.”
41Abigail bowed down with her face toward the ground. She said, “I am your servant. I’m ready to serve him. I’m ready to wash the feet of his servants.” 42Abigail quickly got on a donkey and went with David’s messengers. Her five female servants went with her. She became David’s wife. 43David had also married Ahinoam from Jezreel. Both of them became his wives. 44But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s first wife, to Paltiel. Paltiel was from Gallim. He was the son of Laish.
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1 Samuel 25: NIrV
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Sh'mu'el Alef (1 Sa) 25
25
1Sh’mu’el died. All of Isra’el assembled to mourn him and bury him at his home in Ramah.
Then David set out and went down to the Pa’ran Desert. 2Now there was a man in Ma‘on who had property in Karmel. He was very rich, having three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Karmel. 3The man’s name was Naval, and his wife was named Avigayil. The woman was intelligent and attractive, but the man was surly and mean in his actions; he belonged to the clan of Kalev. 4David, there in the desert, heard that Naval was shearing his sheep. 5David sent off ten young men with these orders: “Go up to Naval in Karmel, and bring him greetings from me. 6Say, ‘Long life and shalom to you, shalom to your household, and shalom to everything that is yours! 7I’ve heard that you now have shearers. Your shepherds were with us [for a while], we did them no harm, and they found nothing missing all the time they were in Karmel. 8Ask your own men; they’ll tell you. Therefore, receive my men favorably, since we have come on a festive day. Please give what you can to your servants and to your son David.’”
9On arrival, David’s men said all these things to Naval in David’s name. When they had finished, 10Naval answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Yishai? There are many servants nowadays running away from their masters. 11Am I supposed to take my bread, my water and my meat that I slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men coming from who knows where?” 12So David’s men turned around, went back and came and told him everything Naval had said. 13David said to his men, “Buckle your swords on, all of you!” Each one buckled on his sword, David too; and there went up after David about four hundred men, while two hundred stayed with the equipment.
14But one of Naval’s men told Avigayil his wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, and he flew on them in a rage, 15even though the men had been very good to us — they didn’t harm us, and we found nothing missing during the entire time we went with them, while we were out in the countryside. 16They served as a wall protecting us day and night all the time we were with them caring for the sheep. 17So now decide what you are going to do, for clearly harm is on its way to our master and all his household, but he’s so mean that no one can tell him anything.”
18Avigayil wasted no time in taking 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already prepared, six quarts of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins and 200 fig cakes, and having them loaded on donkeys. 19Then she said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me, and I’ll come along after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Naval.
20She was riding her donkey down past the hiding-place in the mountain, when David and his men descended toward her, and she met them. 21David had said, “What a waste it has been guarding everything this fellow has in the desert, so that nothing of his was missing! He has repaid me bad for good!” 22Then he swore, “May God do the same and more to David’s enemies if I leave alive even one male of everything he owns.”
23When Avigayil saw David, she hurried to dismount from her donkey, fell on her face in front of David and bowed down to the ground. 24Having fallen at his feet, she said, “It’s all my fault, my lord, all my fault! Please let your servant speak in your ears, and listen to what your servant says. 25Please! My lord shouldn’t pay any attention to this worthless fellow Naval, because he’s just like his name — ‘Naval’ means ‘boor,’ and his boorishness stays with him. But I, your servant, did not see my lord’s men, whom you sent. 26Therefore, my lord, as Adonai lives, and as you live, inasmuch as Adonai has kept you from the guilt of shedding blood and from taking vengeance into your own hands — therefore, may your enemies and anyone seeking your harm be [as worthless] as Naval. 27Meanwhile, let this present which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the men in my lord’s service. 28And please forgive the offense your servant has caused; because Adonai will certainly establish my lord’s dynasty, for my lord fights Adonai’s battles, and nothing bad has been found in you all your life long. 29Even if someone comes along searching for you and seeking your life, your life will be bound in the bundle of life with Adonai your God. But the lives of your enemies he will fling away as if from the pouch of a slingshot. 30Then, when Adonai has done all the good to my lord that he has said about you and made you ruler over Isra’el, 31what happens here will not have become an obstacle to you or a cause for remorse to my lord, neither that you shed blood without cause nor that my lord took vengeance into his own hands. Finally, when Adonai has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32David said to Avigayil, “Blessed be Adonai the God of Isra’el, who sent you today to meet me; 33and blessed be your tactfulness, and blessed be yourself for having kept me today from the guilt of shedding blood and taking vengeance into my own hands. 34For as Adonai the God of Isra’el, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you hadn’t rushed to meet me, not even one male would have been left to Naval by morning!” 35So David received from her what she had brought him, then said to her, “Go up in peace to your home. I have listened to what you said and granted your request.”
36Avigayil came to Naval; there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. He was in high spirits, because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing whatever until the next morning. 37In the morning, when he was sober and his wife told him what had happened, he had a stroke and became as motionless as a stone. 38Some ten days later Adonai struck Naval, and he died.
39When David heard that Naval was dead, he said, “Blessed be Adonai for having taken my side in the matter of Naval’s insult and for having prevented his servant from doing anything bad. On the contrary, Adonai has caused Naval’s bad deeds to return on his own head.” Then David sent a message that he wanted to make Avigayil his own wife. 40When David’s servants reached Avigayil in Karmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to bring you to him to be his wife.” 41She got up, bowed with her face to the ground, and said, “Your servant is here to serve you, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42Avigayil then hurried, set out and rode off on a donkey, with five of her female servants following her; she went after David’s messengers; and she became his wife. 43David also took Achino‘am of Yizre‘el; both of them became his wives.
44Meanwhile, Sha’ul had given Mikhal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Layish, who came from Gallim.
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