1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered
together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David
arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2 And 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 she was a
woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish
and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
4 And
David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
5 And
David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to
Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
6 And
thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both
to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto
all that thou hast.
7 And
now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us,
we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they
were in Carmel.
8 Ask
thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour
in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh
to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
9 And
when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words
in the name of David, and ceased.
10 And
Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David?
and who is the
son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from
his master.
11 Shall
I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers,
and give it unto
men, whom I know not whence they be?
12 So
David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all
those sayings.
13 And
David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And 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 stuff.
14 But
one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent
messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
15 But
the men were very
good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we
were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
16 They
were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them
keeping the sheep.
17 Now
therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against
our master, and against all his household: for he is such a
son of Belial, that a man cannot 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 corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two
hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
19 And
she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she
told not her husband Nabal.
20 And
it was so, as she
rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold,
David and his men came down against her; and she met them.
21 Now
David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath
in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto
him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
22 So
and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to
him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
23 And
when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before
David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
24 And
fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine
audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25 Let
not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal:
for as his name is, so is he;
Nabal is his
name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not
the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
26 Now
therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood,
and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they
that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
27 And
now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even
be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
28 I
pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly
make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD,
and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
29 Yet
a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord
shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of
thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
30 And
it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to
all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee
ruler over Israel;
31 That
this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either
that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but
when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
32 And
David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent
thee this day to meet me:
33 And
blessed be thy
advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from
coming to shed blood,
and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
34 For
in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which
hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet
me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that
pisseth against the wall.
35 So
David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said
unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice,
and have accepted thy person.
36 And
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: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37 But
it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his
wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38 And
it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal,
that he died.
39 And
when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the
LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and
hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of
Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her
to him to wife.
40 And
when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her,
saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.
41 And
she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine
handmaid be a
servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42 And
Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that
went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his
wife.
43 David
also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
44 But
Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish,
which was of
Gallim.
