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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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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1 Samuel 25
25
1 NOW SAMUEL died, and all the Israelites assembled and mourned for him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. David arose and went to the Wilderness of Paran.
2 A very rich man was in Maon, whose possessions and business were in Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 The man's name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail; she was a woman of good understanding, and beautiful. But the man was rough and evil in his doings; he was a Calebite.
4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5 And David sent out ten young men and said to [them], Go up to Carmel to Nabal and greet him in my name;
6 And salute him thus: Peace be to you and to your house and to all that you have.
7 I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.
8 Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight, for we come at an opportune time. I pray you, give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.
9 And when David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then paused.
10 And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who are each breaking away from his master.
11 Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they belong?
12 So David's young men turned away, and came and told him all that was said.
13 And David said to his men, Every man gird on his sword. And they did so, and David also girded on his sword; and there went up after David about 400 men, and 200 remained with the baggage.
14 But one of Nabal's young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed at them.
15 But David's men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, nor did we miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields.
16 They were a wall to us night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 So know this and consider what you will do, for evil is determined against our master and all his house. For he is such a wicked man that one cannot speak to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste and took 200 loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five measures of parched grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.
19 And she said to her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 As she rode on her donkey, she came down hidden by the mountain, and behold, David and his men came down opposite her, and she met them.
21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I protected 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 May God do so, and more also, to David if I leave of all who belong to him one male alive by morning.
23 When Abigail saw David, she hastened and lighted off the donkey, and fell before David on her face and did obeisance.
24 Kneeling at his feet she said, Upon me alone let this guilt be, my lord. And let your handmaid, I pray you, speak in your presence, and hear the words of your handmaid.
25 Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this foolish and wicked fellow Nabal, for as his name is, so is he–Nabal [foolish, wicked] is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your handmaid, did not see my lord's young men whom you sent.
26 So now, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, seeing that the Lord has prevented you from bloodguiltiness and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.
27 And now this gift, which your handmaid has brought my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28 Forgive, I pray you, the trespass of your handmaid, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the Lord's battles, and evil has not been found in you all your days.
29 Though man is risen up to pursue you and to seek your life, yet the life of my lord shall be bound in the living bundle with the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies–them shall He sling out as out of the center of a sling.
30 And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that He has promised concerning you and has made you ruler over Israel,
31 This shall be no staggering grief to you or cause for pangs of conscience to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause or that my lord has avenged himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then [earnestly] remember your handmaid.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who sent you this day to meet me.
33 And blessed be your discretion and advice, and blessed be you who have kept me today from bloodguiltiness and from avenging myself with my own hand.
34 For as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, Who has prevented me from hurting you, if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning there would not have been left so much as one male to Nabal.
35 So David accepted what she had brought him and said to her, Go up in peace to your house. See, I have hearkened to your voice and have granted your petition.
36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king. And [his] heart was merry, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.
37 But in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife told him these things, his heart died within him and he became [paralyzed, helpless as] a stone.
38 And about ten days after that, the Lord smote Nabal and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, Who has pleaded the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and kept His servant from evil. For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him as his wife.
40 And when the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, David sent us to you to take you to him to be his wife.
41 And she arose and bowed herself 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 hastened and arose and rode on a donkey, with five of her maids who followed her, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives.
44 Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
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