The First Book of Samuel (WEB)
25: 1Samuel 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. 25:2There 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. 25:3Now 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. 25:4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 25:5David
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: 25:6and 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. 25:7Now 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. 25:8Ask 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. 25:9When David's
young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and
ceased. 25:10Nabal 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. 25:11Shall 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? 25:12So David's young men turned on their way, and went
back, and came and told him according to all these words. 25:13David 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.
25:14But 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. 25:15But 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: 25:16they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with
them keeping the sheep. 25:17Now 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. 25:18Then 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. 25:19She said to her young men,
Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she didn't tell her husband, Nabal. 25:20It 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. 25:21Now 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. 25:22God 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. 25:23When Abigail
saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and
bowed herself to the ground. 25:24She 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.
25:25Please 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. 25:26Now 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.
25:27Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men
who follow my lord. 25:28Please 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. 25:29Though 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. 25:30It 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, 25:31that 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.
25:32David said to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me:
25:33and 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. 25:34For 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.
25:35So 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.
25:36Abigail 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. 25:37It 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. 25:38It happened about ten days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died. 25:39When
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. 25:40When 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. 25:41She 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. 25:42Abigail 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. 25:43David
also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives. 25:44Now Saul had given
Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
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