1 Samuel 25
25
1And Samuel dieth, and all Israel are gathered, and mourn for him, and bury him in his house, in Ramah; and David riseth and goeth down unto the wilderness of Paran.
2And [there is] a man in Maon, and his work [is] in Carmel; and the man [is] very great, and he hath three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats; and he is shearing his flock in Carmel.
3And the name of the man [is] Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail, and the woman [is] of good understanding, and of fair form, and the man [is] hard and evil [in] doings; and he [is] a Calebite.
4And David heareth in the wilderness that Nabal is shearing his flock,
5and David sendeth ten young men, and David saith to the young men, ‘Go ye up to Carmel, and ye have come in unto Nabal, and asked of him in my name of welfare,
6and said thus: To life! and thou, peace; and thy house, peace; and all that thou hast — peace!
7and, now, I have heard that thou hast shearers; now, the shepherds whom thou hast have been with us, we have not put them to shame, nor hath anything been looked after by them, all the days of their being in Carmel.
8‘Ask thy young men, and they declare to thee, and the young men find grace in thine eyes, for on a good day we have come; give, I pray thee, that which thy hand findeth, to thy servants, and to thy son, to David.’
9And the young men of David come in, and speak unto Nabal according to all these words, in the name of David — and rest.
10And Nabal answereth the servants of David and saith, ‘Who [is] David, and who the son of Jesse? to-day have servants been multiplied who are breaking away each from his master;
11and I have taken my bread, and my water, and my flesh, which I slaughtered for my shearers, and have given [it] to men whom I have not known whence they [are]!’
12And the young men of David turn on their way, and turn back, and come in, and declare to him according to all these words.
13And David saith to his men, ‘Gird ye on each his sword;’ and they gird on each his sword, and David also girdeth on his sword, and there go up after David about four hundred men, and two hundred have remained by the vessels.
14And to Abigail wife of Nabal hath one young man of the youths declared, saying, ‘Lo, David hath sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our lord, and he flieth upon them;
15and the men [are] very good to us, and have not put us to shame, and we have not looked after anything all the days we have gone up and down with them, in our being in the field;
16a wall they have been unto us both by night and by day, all the days of our being with them, feeding the flock.
17‘And, now, know and consider what thou dost; for evil hath been determined against our lord, and against all his house, and he [is] too much a son of worthlessness to be spoken to.’
18And Abigail hasteth, and taketh two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep, prepared, and five measures of roasted corn, and a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred bunches of figs, and setteth [them] on the asses.
19And she saith to her young men, ‘Pass over before me; lo, after you I am coming;’ and to her husband Nabal she hath not declared [it];
20and it hath come to pass, she is riding on the ass and is coming down in the secret part of the hill-country, and lo, David and his men are coming down to meet her, and she meeteth them.
21And David said, ‘Only, in vain I have kept all that this [one] hath in the wilderness, and nothing hath been looked after of all that he hath, and he turneth back to me evil for good;
22thus doth God do to the enemies of David, and thus He doth add, if I leave of all that he hath till the light of the morning — of those sitting on the wall.’
23And Abigail seeth David, and hasteth and cometh down from off the ass, and falleth before David on her face, and boweth herself to the earth,
24and falleth at his feet and saith, ‘On me, my lord, the iniquity; and let, I pray thee, thy handmaid speak in thine ear, and hear the words of thy handmaid.
25‘Let not, I pray thee, my lord set his heart to this man of worthlessness, on Nabal, for as his name [is] so [is] he; Nabal [is] his name, and folly [is] with him; and I, thine handmaid, did not see the young men of my lord whom thou didst send;
26and now, my lord, Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth, in that Jehovah hath withheld thee from coming in with blood, and to save thy hand to thee — now let thine enemies be as Nabal, even those seeking evil unto my lord.
27‘And, now, this blessing which thy maid-servant hath brought to my lord — it hath been given to the young men who are going up and down at the feet of my lord.
28‘Bear, I pray thee, with the transgression of thy handmaid, for Jehovah doth certainly make to my lord a stedfast house; for the battles of Jehovah hath my lord fought, and evil is not found in thee [all] thy days.
29And man riseth to pursue thee and to seek thy soul, and the soul of my lord hath been bound in the bundle of life with Jehovah thy God; as to the soul of thine enemies, He doth sling them out in the midst of the hollow of the sling.
30‘And it hath been, when Jehovah doth to my lord according to all the good which He hath spoken concerning thee, and appointed thee for leader over Israel,
31that this is not to thee for a stumbling-block, and for an offence of heart to my lord — either to shed blood for nought, or my lord's restraining himself; and Jehovah hath done good to my lord, and thou hast remembered thy handmaid.’
32And David saith to Abigail, ‘Blessed [is] Jehovah, God of Israel, who hath sent thee this day to meet me,
33and blessed [is] thy discretion, and blessed [art] thou in that thou hast restrained me this day from coming in with blood, and to restrain my hand to myself.
34And yet, Jehovah liveth, God of Israel, who hath kept me back from doing evil with thee, for unless thou hadst hasted, and dost come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal till the light of the morning, of those sitting on the wall.’
35And David receiveth from her hand that which she hath brought to him, and to her he hath said, ‘Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and accept thy face.’
36And Abigail cometh in unto Nabal, and lo, he hath a banquet in his house, like a banquet of the king, and the heart of Nabal [is] glad within him, and he [is] drunk unto excess, and she hath not declared to him anything, less or more, till the light of the morning.
37And it cometh to pass in the morning, when the wine is gone out from Nabal, that his wife declareth to him these things, and his heart dieth within him, and he hath been as a stone.
38And it cometh to pass, [in] about ten days, that Jehovah smiteth Nabal, and he dieth,
39and David heareth that Nabal [is] dead, and saith, ‘Blessed [is] Jehovah who hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and His servant hath kept back from evil, and the wickedness of Nabal hath Jehovah turned back on his own head;’ and David sendeth and speaketh with Abigail, to take her to him for a wife.
40And the servants of David come in unto Abigail at Carmel, and speak unto her, saying, ‘David hath sent us unto thee to take thee to him for a wife.’
41And she riseth and boweth herself — face to the earth — and saith, ‘Lo, thy handmaid [is] for a maid-servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.’
42And Abigail hasteth and riseth, and rideth on the ass; and five of her young women who are going at her feet; and she goeth after the messengers of David, and is to him for a wife.
43And Ahinoam hath David taken from Jezreel, and they are — even both of them — to him for wives;
44and Saul gave Michal his daughter, wife to David, to Phalti son of Laish, who [is] of Gallim.
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1 Samuel 25: YLT98
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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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