1 Samuel

1 Samuel 25 ©

1 Samuel dieth: David goeth to Paran. 2 The characters of Nabal and Abigail. 4 David sendeth a message to Nabal. 10 Provoked by Nabal's churlish answer, he setteth forth to destroy him. 14 Abigail is informed thereof: 18 she meeteth David with a present, and entreateth his pardon. 32 David blesseth God and her for so timely an interposition, and dismisseth her courteously. 36 Nabal, stricken with her relation of the matter, dieth. 39 David again blesseth God, and marrieth Abigail and Ahinoam. 44 His wife Michal is given to Phalti.

1

AND aSamuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at bRamah. And David arose, and went down to the cwilderness of Paran.

2

And there was a man in Maon, dwhose 1possessions were in eCarmel; 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 fa woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was g*churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of hCaleb.

4

¶And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did ishear 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 2greet him in my name:

6

And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, jPeace 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 3hurt 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 ka 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 4ceased.

10

¶And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, lWho is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there mbe many servants now a days nthat break away every man from his master.

11

Shall I then take omy bread, and my water, and my 5flesh that I have killed for my shearers, pand give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be ?

12

So David's young men qturned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.

13

And David said unto his men, rGird ye on every man his sword. And they *girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: sand there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred tabode 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 usalute our master; and he 6*railed on them.

15

But the men were vvery good unto us, and we were not 7hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were *conversant with them, when we were in the fields:

16

They were wa 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 xa son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.

18

¶Then Abigail ymade 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 8clusters 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 ztold not her husband Nabal.

20

And it was so, as she arode 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 bthis fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he chath requited me evil for good.

22

So dand 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, eand lighted off the ass, and ffell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

24

And gfell at his feet, and said, hUpon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be : and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine 9audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.

25

Let not my lord, I pray thee, 10regard this iman of Belial, even 11Nabal: 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, jas the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from 12avenging thyself with thine own hand, now klet thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

27

And now this 13blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that 14follow my lord.

28

I pray thee, forgive the l*trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD mwill certainly make my lord na sure house; because my lord fighteth othe battles of the LORD, and pevil hath not been found in thee all thy days.

l v.24.
29

Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be qbound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he rsling out, as 15out 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 16no 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 sremember thine handmaid.

32

¶And David tsaid to Abigail, uBlessed 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 vkept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.

v v.26,34,39.
34

For in very deed, was 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, xGo up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have yaccepted thy person.

36

¶And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held za feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was avery drunken: wherefore she btold 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 cthese things, that dhis heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

c v.10,11,21,34.
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, eBlessed be the LORD, that hath fpleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath gkept his servant from evil: for hthe LORD hath ireturned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, jto take her to him to wife.

g v.26,34.
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, klet thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

42

And lAbigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five *damsels of hers that went 17after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43

David also took Ahinoam mof Jezreel; and nthey were also oboth of them his wives.

44

¶But Saul had given pMichal his daughter, David's wife, to 18Phalti the son of Laish, which was of qGallim.