1 Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and
lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. David arose, and went
down to the wilderness of Paran. 2 There was a man in Maon, whose
possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three
thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in
Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife
Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful face:
but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of
Caleb. 4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5 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: 6 and thus shall
you tell him who lives in prosperity, Peace be to you, and peace
be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 Now I have heard
that you have shearers: your shepherds have now been with us, and we did them
no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them, all the while they were
in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you: therefore let the
young men find favor in your eyes; for we come in a good day. Please give
whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.
9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those
words in the name of David, and ceased. 10 Nabal answered David’s
servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many
servants now-a-days who break away every man 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 who I don’t know where they come from? 12 So
David’s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him
according to all these words. 13 David said to his men, Gird you on
every man his sword. They girded on every man his sword; and David also
girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men;
and two hundred abode by the baggage. 14 But one of the young men told
Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the
wilderness to Greet our master; and he railed at them. 15 But the men were
very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as
we went with them, when we were in the fields: 16 they were a wall to us
both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is
determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a
worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him. 18 Then Abigail made haste,
and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready
dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and one hundred clusters of
raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 She
said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she
didn’t tell her husband, Nabal. 20 It was so, as she rode on her donkey,
and came down by the covert of the mountain, that behold, David and his men
came down toward her; and she met them. 21 Now David had said, Surely in
vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing
was missed of all that pertained to him: and he has returned me evil for
good. 22 God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of
all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey, and
fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24 She
fell at his feet, and said, On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and please
let your handmaid speak in your ears. Hear the words of your handmaid.
25 Please don’t let my lord regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for
as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I
your handmaid didn’t see the young men of my lord, whom you did send.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, seeing
Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself
with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil
to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 Now this present which your servant has
brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28 Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for Yahweh will certainly
make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh; and
evil shall not be found in you all your days. 29 Though men be risen up to
pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in
the bundle of life with Yahweh your God; and the souls of your enemies, them
shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. 30 It shall come to
pass, when Yahweh shall have done to my lord according to all the good that
he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you prince over
Israel, 31 that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my
lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has
avenged himself. When Yahweh shall have dealt well with my lord, then
remember your handmaid. 32 David said to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh, the
God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me: 33 and blessed be your
discretion, and blessed be you, that have kept me this day from blood
guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For in very
deed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting
you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have
been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. 35 So
David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to
her, Go up in peace to your house; behold, I have listened to your voice, and
have accepted your person. 36 Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held
a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry
within him, for he was very drunken: therefore she told him nothing, less or
more, until the morning light. 37 It happened in the morning, when the
wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his
heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 It happened about ten
days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died. 39 When David heard
that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of
my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil:
and the evil-doing of Nabal has Yahweh returned on his own head. David sent
and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife. 40 When the
servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying,
David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife. 41 She arose, and
bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, your handmaid is
a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42 Abigail hurried,
and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies of hers who followed her;
and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43 David
also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives.
44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son
of Laish, who was of Gallim.
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