1 Samuel 25
25
The Death of Samuel
1 # ch. 28:3 Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled #Gen. 50:10; [Num. 20:29; Deut. 34:8] and mourned for him, and they buried him #[1 Kgs. 2:34] in his house at #ch. 1:19 Ramah.
David and Abigail
Then David rose and went down to #Num. 10:12the wilderness of Paran. 2And there was a man in #ch. 23:24 Maon whose business was in #Josh. 15:55 Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. #[Gen. 38:13; 2 Sam. 13:23]He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; #[ch. 30:14]he was a Calebite. 4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal #[See ver. 2 above]was shearing his sheep. 5So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. 6And thus you shall greet him: #[1 Chr. 12:18; Matt. 10:13; Luke 10:5]‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, #ver. 15, 21and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come #Esth. 8:17; 9:19, 22on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
9When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. 10And Nabal answered David’s servants, #[Judg. 9:28] “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? #[Judg. 12:4]There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. 11Shall I take #[Judg. 8:6] my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to #[ch. 22:2]men who come from I do not know where?” 12So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this. 13And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And #ch. 23:13; 27:2; [ch. 22:2] about four hundred men went up after David, #ch. 23:13; 27:2; [ch. 22:2] while two hundred #ch. 30:24remained with the baggage.
14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. 15Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, #ver. 7, 21and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. 16They were #[Job 1:10]a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, #[ch. 20:7] for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such #Deut. 13:13a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”
18Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs#25:18 A seah was about 7 quarts or 7.3 liters of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. 21Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, #ver. 7, 15 so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has #Ps. 109:5; [Prov. 17:13]returned me evil for good. 22#See Ruth 1:17God do so to the enemies of David#25:22 Septuagint to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”
23When Abigail saw David, she hurried #Josh. 15:18; Judg. 1:14; [Gen. 24:64] and got down from the donkey #ver. 41; Ruth 2:10and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said, #[2 Sam. 14:9]“On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. 25Let not my lord regard #[See ver. 17 above]this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal#25:25 Nabal means fool is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26Now then, my lord, #See ch. 20:3 as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because #[Gen. 20:6] the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from #[Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30] saving with your own hand, now then #[2 Sam. 18:32]let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27And now let this #ch. 30:26; Gen. 33:11; [2 Kgs. 5:15]present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord #1 Kgs. 11:38; [ch. 2:35; 2 Sam. 7:11, 27; 1 Kgs. 9:5; 1 Chr. 17:10, 25] a sure house, because my lord #ch. 18:17is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies #Jer. 10:18he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince#25:30 Or leader over Israel, 31my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord #[See ver. 26 above]working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32And David said to Abigail, #Gen. 24:27; Ps. 41:13; 72:18; Luke 1:68“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, #[See ver. 26 above] who have kept me this day from bloodguilt #[See ver. 26 above]and from working salvation with my own hand! 34For as surely #See Ruth 3:13 as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, #[See ver. 26 above]who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, #See ch. 1:17“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
36And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, #[2 Sam. 13:23] he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart #[2 Sam. 13:28; 1 Kgs. 21:7] was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing #ch. 22:15at all until the morning light. 37In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38And about ten days later #ch. 26:10the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, #[See ver. 32 above] “Blessed be the Lord who has #See ch. 24:15 avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, #ver. 26, 33, 34 and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. #1 Kgs. 2:44; [Ps. 7:16; Ezek. 17:19] The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and #[Song 8:8]spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41And she rose #[Ruth 2:10]and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
43David also took Ahinoam of #Josh. 15:56 Jezreel, #ch. 27:3; 30:5; 2 Sam. 2:2; 3:2, 3; 1 Chr. 3:1and both of them became his wives. 44Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
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1 Samuel 25
25
Abigail saves David
1Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. David then left and went down to the Maon wilderness.#25.1 LXX; MT Paran
2There was a man in Maon who did business in Carmel. He was a very important man and owned three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. At that time, he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and attractive woman, but her husband was a hard man who did evil things. He was a Calebite.
4While in the wilderness, David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5So David sent ten servants, telling them, “Go up to Carmel. When you get to Nabal, greet him for me. 6Say this to him: ‘Peace to you,#25.6 Heb uncertain your household, and all that is yours! 7I’ve heard that you are now shearing sheep. As you know, your shepherds were with us in the wilderness.#25.7 LXX, Syr; MT lacks in the wilderness. We didn’t mistreat them. Moreover, the whole time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs went missing. 8Ask your servants; they will tell you the same. So please receive these young men favorably, because we’ve come on a special day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
9When David’s young men arrived, they said all this to Nabal on David’s behalf. Then they waited. 10But Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? There are all sorts of slaves running away from their masters these days. 11Why should I take my bread, my water, and the meat I’ve butchered for my shearers and give it to people who came here from who knows where?” 12So David’s young servants turned around and went back the way they came. When they arrived, they reported every word of this to David.
13Then David said to his soldiers, “All of you, strap on your swords!” So each of them strapped on their swords, and David did the same. Nearly four hundred men went up with David. Two hundred men remained back with the supplies.
14One of Nabal’s servants told his wife Abigail, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he just yelled at them. 15But the men were very good to us and didn’t mistreat us. Nothing of ours went missing the whole time we were out with them in the fields. 16In fact, the whole time we were with them, watching our sheep, they were a protective wall around us both night and day. 17Think about that and see what you can do, because trouble is coming for our master and his whole household. But he’s such a despicable person no one can speak to him.”
18Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep ready for cooking, five seahs#25.18 One seah is approximately seven and a half quarts. of roasted grain, one hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes. She loaded all this on donkeys 19and told her servants, “Go on ahead of me. I’ll be right behind you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal.
20As she was riding her donkey, going down a trail on the hillside, David and his soldiers appeared, descending toward her, and she met up with them. 21David had just been saying, “What a waste of time—guarding all this man’s stuff in the wilderness so that nothing of his went missing! He has repaid me evil instead of good! 22May God deal harshly with me, David,#25.22 LXX; MT with David’s enemies and worse still if I leave alive even one single one who urinates on a wall#25.22 Descriptive phrase meaning "a male"; also in 25:34 belonging to him come morning!”
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and fell facedown before him, bowing low to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said, “Put the blame on me, my master! But please let me, your servant, speak to you directly. Please listen to what your servant has to say. 25Please, my master, pay no attention to this despicable man Nabal. He’s exactly what his name says he is! His name means fool,#25.25 Heb nabal and he is foolish!#25.25 Heb nebalah But I myself, your servant, didn’t see the young men that you, my master, sent. 26I pledge, my master, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, that the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and taking vengeance into your own hands! But now let your enemies and those who seek to harm my master be exactly like Nabal! 27Here is a gift, which your servant has brought to my master. Please let it be given to the young men who follow you, my master. 28Please forgive any offense by your servant. The LORD will definitely make an enduring dynasty for my master because my master fights the LORD’s battles, and nothing evil will be found in you throughout your lifetime. 29If someone chases after you and tries to kill you, my master, then your life will be bound up securely in the bundle of life#25.29 Or bundle of the living; Heb uncertain; perhaps a tied-up scroll (cf Exod 32:32-33; Ps 69:28; Isa 8:16) by the LORD your God, but he will fling away your enemies’ lives as from the pouch of a sling. 30When the LORD has done for my master all the good things he has promised you, and has installed you as Israel’s leader, 31don’t let this be a blot or burden on my master’s conscience, that you shed blood needlessly or that my master took vengeance into his own hands. When the LORD has done good things for my master, please remember your servant.”
32David said to Abigail, “Bless the LORD God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! 33And bless you and your good judgment for preventing me from shedding blood and taking vengeance into my own hands today! 34Otherwise, as surely as the LORD God of Israel lives—the one who kept me from hurting you—if you hadn’t come quickly and met up with me, there wouldn’t be one single one who urinates on a wall left come morning.” 35Then David accepted everything she had brought for him. “Return home in peace,” he told her. “Be assured that I’ve heard your request and have agreed to it.”
36When Abigail got back home to Nabal, he was throwing a party fit for a king in his house. Nabal was in a great mood and very drunk, so Abigail didn’t tell him anything until daybreak. 37In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him everything. Nabal’s heart failed inside him, and he became like a stone. 38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.
39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Bless the LORD, who has rendered a verdict regarding Nabal’s insult to me and who kept me, his servant, from doing something evil! The LORD has brought Nabal’s evil down on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, saying that he would take her as his wife.
40When David’s servants reached Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you so you can become his wife.”
41She bowed low to the ground and said, “I am your servant, ready to serve and wash the feet of my master’s helpers.” 42Then Abigail got up quickly and rode on her donkey, with five of her young women going with her. She followed David’s messengers and became his wife.
43David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, so both of them were his wives. 44But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti, Laish’s son, from Gallim.
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