1 Kings 25
25
1And Samuel died. And all Israel was gathered together; and they mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramatha. And David rose and went down into the wilderness of Pharan.
2Now there was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very great: and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats. And it happened that he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a prudent and very comely woman; but her husband was churlish, and very bad and ill-natured. And he was of the house of Caleb.
4And when David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep,
5He sent ten young men, and said to them: Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and salute him in my name with peace.
6And you shall say: Peace be to my brethren, and to thee, and peace to thy house, and peace to all that thou hast.
7I heard that thy shepherds that were with us in the desert were shearing. We never molested them; neither was there aught missing to them of the flock at any time, all the while they were with us in Carmel.
8Ask thy servants, and they will tell thee. Now therefore let thy servants find favour in thy eyes: for we are come in a good day. Whatsoever thy hand shall find give to thy servants, and to thy son David.
9And when David's servants came they spoke to Nabal all these words in David's name: and then held their peace.
10But Nabal answering the servants of David said: Who is David? And what is the son of Isai? Servants are multiplied nowadays who flee from their masters.
11Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and the flesh of my cattle, which I have killed for my shearers, and give to men whom I know not whence they are?
12So the servants of David went back their way: and returning came and told him all the words that he said.
13Then David said to his young men: Let every man gird on his sword. And they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword: and there followed David about four hundred men. And two hundred remained with the baggage.
14But one of the servants told Abigail the wife of Nabal, saying: Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness, to salute our master; and he rejected them.
15These men were very good to us, and gave us no trouble: neither did we ever lose any thing all the time that we conversed with them in the desert.
16They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17Wherefore consider, and think what thou hast to do: for evil is determined against thy husband, and against thy house. And he is a son of Belial, so that no man can speak to him.
18Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dry figs, and laid them upon asses.
19And she said to her servants: Go before me. Behold, I will follow after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
20And when she had gotten upon an ass, and was coming down to the foot of the mountain, David and his men came down over against her, and she met them.
21And David said: Truly in vain have I kept all that belonged to this man in the wilderness, and nothing was lost of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good.
22May God do so and so, and add more to the foes of David, if I leave of all that belong to him till the morning any that pisseth against the wall.
23And when Abigail saw David she made haste and lighted off the ass, and fell before David, on her face, and adored upon the ground.
24And she fell at his feet, and said: Upon me let this iniquity be, my lord. Let thy handmaid speak, I beseech thee, in thy ears: and hear the words of thy servant.
25Let not my lord the king, I pray, regard this naughty man Nabal: for according to his name, he is a fool, and folly is with him. But I thy handmaid did not see thy servants, my lord, whom thou sentest.
26Now therefore, my lord, the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, who hath withholden thee from coming to blood, and hath saved thy hand to thee: and now let thy enemies be as Nabal, and all they that seek evil to my lord.
27Wherefore receive this blessing, which thy handmaid hath brought to thee, my lord: and give it to the young men that follow thee, my lord.
28Forgive the iniquity of thy handmaid: for the Lord will surely make for my lord a faithful house, because thou, my lord, fightest the battles of the Lord. Let not evil therefore be found in thee all the days of thy life.
29For if a man at any time shall rise, and persecute thee, and seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be kept, as in the bundle of the living, with the Lord thy God. But the souls of thy enemies shall be whirled, as with the violence and whirling of a sling.
30And when the Lord shall have done to thee, my lord, all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have made thee prince over Israel,
31This shall not be an occasion of grief to thee, and a scruple of heart to my lord, that thou hast shed innocent blood, or hast revenged thyself: and when the Lord shall have done well by my lord thou shalt remember thy handmaid.
32And David said to Abigail: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed be thy speech.
33And blessed be thou, who hast kept me to-day, from coming to blood, and revenging me with my own hand.
34Otherwise, as the Lord liveth the God of Israel, who hath withholden me from doing thee any evil: if thou hadst not quickly come to meet me, there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
35And David received at her hand all that she had brought him, and said to her: Go in peace into thy house. Behold, I have heard thy voice, and have honoured thy face.
36And Abigail came to Nabal. And, behold, he had a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, and Nabal's heart was merry: for he was very drunk. And she told him nothing less or more until morning.
37But early in the morning, when Nabal had digested his wine, his wife told him these words: and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38And after ten days had passed, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39And when David had heard that Nabal was dead he said: Blessed be the Lord, who hath judged the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil; and the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his head. Then David sent and treated with Abigail, that he might take her to himself for a wife.
40And David's servants came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying: David hath sent us to thee, to take thee to himself for a wife.
41And she arose and bowed herself down with her face to the earth, and said: Behold, let thy servant be a handmaid, to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42And Abigail arose, and made haste, and got upon an ass, and five damsels went with her, her waiting maids; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43Moreover David took also Achinoam of Jezrahel. And they were both of them his wives.
44But Saul gave Michol his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti, the son of Lais, who was of Gallium.
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1 Kings 25: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
1 Samuel 25
25
David, Nabal, and Abigail
1Samuel died, # 1Sm 28:3 and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, # Dt 34:8 and they buried him by his home in Ramah. # 2Kg 21:18; 2Ch 33:20 David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran. # LXX reads to Maon # Gn 21:21; Nm 10:12; 13:3
2A man in Maon # 1Sm 23:24 had a business in Carmel; # Jos 15:55 he was a very rich man with 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, # Jos 15:13; 1Sm 30:14 was harsh and evil in his dealings.
4While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep, 5so David sent 10 young men instructing them, “Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him in my name. # Or Nabal, and ask him for peace 6Then say this: ‘Long life to you, # Lit To life and peace to you, to your family, and to all that is yours. # 1Ch 12:18 7I hear that you are shearing. # Lit you have shearers When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel. # 1Sm 23:24-25; 25:15-16 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a feast # Lit good day. # Neh 8:10-12 Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son David.’ ”
9David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, # Lit name and they waited. # LXX reads and he became arrogant 10Nabal asked them, “Who is David? # Jdg 9:28 Who is Jesse’s son? Many slaves these days are running away from their masters. 11Am I supposed to take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to these men? I don’t know where they are from.”
12David’s men retraced their steps. When they returned to him, they reported all these words. 13He said to his men, “All of you, put on your swords! ” So David and all his men put on their swords. About 400 men followed David while 200 stayed with the supplies. # 1Sm 23:13; 30:9-10
14One of Nabal’s young men informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife: “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, # 1Sm 13:10; 15:13 but he yelled at them. 15The men treated us well. When we were in the field, we weren’t harassed # 1Sm 25:7,21 and nothing of ours was missing the whole time we were living among them. 16They were a wall around us, both day and night, # Ex 14:22 the entire time we were herding the sheep. 17Now consider carefully what you must do, because there is certain to be trouble for our master and his entire family. He is such a worthless fool nobody can talk to him! ”
18Abigail hurried, taking 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel # Lit sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. # 2Sm 16:1; 1Ch 12:40 19Then she said to her male servants, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” # Gn 32:16,20 But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20As she rode the donkey down a mountain pass hidden from view, she saw David and his men coming toward her and met them. 21David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good. 22May God punish me # LXX; MT reads David’s enemies and do so severely # 1Sm 3:17; 20:13 if I let any of his men # Lit of those of his who are urinating against the wall survive until morning.” # 1Kg 14:10
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and fell with her face to the ground in front of David. # 1Sm 20:41 24She fell at his feet and said, “The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant. 25My lord should pay no attention to this worthless man Nabal, for he lives up to his name: # Lit for as is his name is, so he is His name is Nabal, # = Fool and stupidity is all he knows. # Lit and foolishness is with him I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent. 26Now my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, it is the Lord who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself # Heb 10:30 by your own hand. May your enemies and those who want trouble for my lord be like Nabal. # 2Sm 18:32 27Accept this gift # Gn 33:11; 1Sm 30:26 your servant has brought to my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28Please forgive your servant’s offense, # 1Sm 25:24 for the Lord is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord # 1Sm 2:35; 22:14; 2Sm 7:11,16 because he fights the Lord’s battles. # 1Sm 18:17 Throughout your life, may evil # Or trouble not be found in you. # 1Sm 24:11; Ps 7:3
29“When someone pursues you and attempts to take your life, my lord’s life will be tucked safely in the place # Lit bundle where the Lord your God protects the living. However, He will fling away your enemies’ lives like stones from a sling. # Jr 10:18 30When the Lord does for my lord all the good He promised and appoints you ruler over Israel, # 1Sm 13:14 31there will not be remorse or a troubled conscience for my lord because of needless bloodshed or my lord’s revenge. And when the Lord does good things for my lord, may you remember me your servant.” # Gn 40:14; 1Sm 25:30
32Then David said to Abigail, “Praise to the Lord God of Israel, # Ex 18:10 who sent you to meet me today! 33Your discernment is blessed, and you are blessed. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand. # 1Sm 25:26 34Otherwise, as surely as the Lord God of Israel lives, who prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, Nabal wouldn’t have had any men # Lit had anyone urinating against a wall left by morning light.” 35Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. # 1Sm 20:42; 2Kg 5:19 See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request.” # Gn 19:21
36Then Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. # 2Sm 13:23 Nabal was in a good mood # Lit Nabal’s heart was good on him and very drunk, so she didn’t say anything # Lit anything small or great to him # 1Sm 25:19 until morning light.
37In the morning when Nabal sobered up, # Lit when the wine had gone out of Nabal his wife told him about these events. Then he had a seizure # Lit Then his heart died within him and became paralyzed. # Lit became a stone 38About 10 days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead. # 1Sm 26:10
39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults # 1Sm 24:15 and restrained His servant from doing evil. # 1Sm 25:26,34 The Lord brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.” # 2Sm 3:28-29
Then David sent messengers to speak to Abigail about marrying him. 40When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”
41She stood up, then bowed her face to the ground # 1Sm 25:23 and said, “Here I am, your servant, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” # Mk 1:7 42Then Abigail got up quickly, and with her five female servants accompanying her, rode on the donkey following David’s messengers. # Gn 24:61-67 And so she became his wife.
43David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, # Jos 15:56 and the two of them became his wives. 44But Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti # 1Sm 18:27; 2Sm 3:14-15 son of Laish, who was from Gallim. # Is 10:30
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