The Death of Samuel

1 Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

David and Nabal

2 There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very wealthy. He had 3,000 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. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings. 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 Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! 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 didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time 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 on a feast 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 all those words in the name of David, and waited.

10 Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days. 11 Shall I then take my bread, 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 all these words.

13 David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!”

Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About 400 men followed David, and 200 stayed by the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he insulted them. 15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss 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 this and consider what you will do, for disaster is coming against our master and against all his house, for he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

18 Then Abigail hurried and took 200 loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five prepared sheep, a bushel of parched grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men, “Go on before me. I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband, Nabal. 20 As she rode on her donkey and came down by the covert of the mountain, David and his men came down toward her and she met them.

21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned to me evil for good. 22 The Lord 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.”

23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant. 25 Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men, whom you sent. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from the guilt of bloodshed 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 servant. For the Lord will certainly give my lord an enduring lineage, because my lord fights the Lord’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, yet the life of my lord will be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies, as from the hollow of a sling. 30 It will come to pass, when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler 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 the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me! 33 Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from the guilt of bloodshed, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For indeed, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless 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 male.”

35 So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.”

36 Abigail came to Nabal, and he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. 37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, so that he died.

David Marries Abigail

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. The Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife. 40 When David’s servants had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.”

41 She arose and bowed with her face to the earth and said, “Your servant is a but a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 Abigail hurried and arose and rode on a donkey, with five of her ladies who followed her, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became 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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