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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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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1 Samuel 25
25
Samuel Dies
1Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David went to the desert of Paran.
David, Nabal, and Abigail
2Now, there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very rich man. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3This man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was sensible and beautiful, but he was harsh and mean. He was a descendant of Caleb.
4While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5So David sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Carmel, visit Nabal, and greet him for me. 6Say to him, ‘May you live ⌞long⌟! May you, your home, and all you have prosper! 7I hear that your sheepshearers are with you. Your shepherds have been with us, ⌞and⌟ we have not mistreated them. Nothing of theirs has been missing as long as they’ve been in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and let them tell you. Be kind to my young men, since we have come on a special occasion. Please give us and your son David anything you can ⌞spare⌟.’ ”
9When David’s young men came to Nabal, they repeated all of this to him for David, and then they waited.
10“Who is David?” Nabal answered David’s servants. “Who is Jesse’s son? So many servants nowadays are leaving their masters. 11Should I take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to men coming from who knows where?”
12David’s young men returned and told him all this.
13“Each of you put on your swords!” David told his men. And everyone, including David, put on his sword. About four hundred men went with David, while two hundred men stayed with the supplies.
14One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, who yelled at them. 15Those men were very good to us. They didn’t mistreat us, and we found that nothing was missing wherever we went with them when we were in the fields. 16They were a wall protecting us day and night as long as we were watching the sheep near them. 17Now, consider what you should do because our master and his whole household are doomed. And he’s such a worthless man that it’s useless to talk to him.”
18So Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, 2 full wineskins, 5 butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them on donkeys. 19“Go on ahead,” she told her young men, “and I’ll follow you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal about it.
20She was riding on her donkey down a hidden mountain path when she met David and his men coming toward her. 21David had thought, “I guarded this man’s stuff in the desert for nothing! Not one of his possessions was missing. Yet, he has paid me back with evil when I was good to him. 22May God punish me #25:22 Greek; Masoretic Text “To David’s enemies.” if I leave even one of his men #25:22 Hebrew uses a coarse term for “men” here and at verse 34. alive in the morning.”
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down from her donkey. She immediately bowed down in front of David with her face touching the ground. 24After she bowed at his feet, she said, “Sir, let me be held responsible for this wrong. Please let me speak with you. Please listen to my words. 25You shouldn’t take this worthless person Nabal seriously. He is like his name. His name is Nabal [Godless Fool], and he’s foolish. But I didn’t see the young men you sent.
26“The Lord has kept you from spilling innocent blood and from getting a victory by your own efforts. Now, sir, I solemnly swear, as the Lord and you live, may your enemies and those who are trying to harm you end up like Nabal. 27Here is a gift I am bringing to you. May it be given to the young men who are in your service. 28Please forgive my offense. The Lord will certainly give you, sir, a lasting dynasty, because you are fighting the Lord’s battles. May evil never be found in you as long as you live. 29Even though someone pursued you and sought your life, your life is wrapped in the bundle of life which comes from the Lord your God. But he will dispose of the lives of your enemies like stones thrown from a sling. 30When the Lord does all the good he promised and makes you ruler of Israel, 31you shouldn’t have a troubled conscience because you spilled blood for no good reason and claimed your own victory. When the Lord has given you success, remember me.”
32David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me. 33May your good judgment be blessed. Also, may you be blessed for keeping me from slaughtering people today and from getting a victory by my own efforts. 34But I solemnly swear—as the Lord God of Israel, who has kept me from harming you, lives—if you hadn’t come to meet me quickly, Nabal certainly wouldn’t have had one of his men left at dawn.”
35Then David accepted what she brought him and told her, “Go home in peace. I’ve listened to what you’ve said and granted your request.”
36When Abigail came to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his home. It was like a king’s banquet. He was in a good mood and very drunk, so she didn’t tell him anything until dawn. 37But in the morning, when the effects of the wine had worn off, his wife told him what had happened. Nabal’s heart failed, and he could not move. 38About ten days later the Lord made him even more sick, and Nabal died.
39When David heard Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who defended me against the insults of Nabal and kept me from doing wrong. The Lord has turned Nabal’s own wickedness back on him.”
Then David sent men ⌞on his behalf⌟ to propose marriage to Abigail. 40When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they told her, “David has sent us to you so that we can take you to him to be his wife.”
41She bowed down with her face touching the ground. “I am ready to serve,” she said. “I am ready to wash the feet of my master’s servants.” 42Then Abigail quickly got up and rode on a donkey with five of her female servants following her. So she went with David’s messengers and became his wife.
43David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Both she and Abigail were his wives. 44Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti, Laish’s son, who was from Gallim.
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