25:1 And Samuel died. And all Israel gathered themselves together and lamented him and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 25:2 And there was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very great in goods and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
25:3 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 countenance, but the man was cruel and evil in his practices and he was of the house of Caleb.
25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 25:5 And David sent ten young men and David said to the young men, You* get up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. 25:6 And you* will say thus to him who lives in prosperity, Peace to you and peace to your house and peace to all that you have.
25:7 And now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us and we did not hurt them, neither was there anything missing to them all the while they were in Carmel.25:8 Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes, because we come in a good day. I beseech you, give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.
25:9 And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David and ceased. 25:10 And 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.25:11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men of whom I do not know from where they are?25:12 So David's young men turned on their way and went back and came and told him according to all these words.
25:13 And David said to his men, Gird yourselves; his sword on every man. And they girded on every man his sword and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David and two hundred abode by the baggage.
25:14 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. 25:15 But the men were very good to us and we were not hurt, neither did we miss anything as long as we went with them when we were in the fields. 25:16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
25:17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do, because evil is determined against our master and against all his house. And he is such a son of worthless men that a man cannot speak to him.
25:18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two jugs of wine and five sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and laid them on donkeys. 25:19 And she said to her young men, Go on before me, behold, I come after you*. But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 25:20 And 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.
25:21 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 and he has returned me evil for good. 25:22 God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if I leave of all that pertains to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on the wall {i.e. a male}.
25:23 And when Abigail saw David, she hastened and dismounted from her donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground. 25:24 And she fell at his feet and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity and I beseech you, let your handmaid speak in your ears and hear the words of your handmaid. 25:25 I beseech you, do not let my lord regard this worthless man, even Nabal, because as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and senselessness is with him. But I your handmaid saw not the young men of my lord whom you sent.
25:26 Now therefore, my lord, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, since Jehovah 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. 25:27 And now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
25:28 I beseech you, forgive the trespass of your handmaid. Because Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Jehovah and evil will not be found in you all your days. 25:29 And though men have risen up to pursue you and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with Jehovah your God. And the souls of your enemies, them he will sling out as from the hollow of a sling.
25:30 And it will happen, when Jehovah will have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and will have appointed you ruler over Israel, 25:31 that this will 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. And when Jehovah will have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.
25:32 And David said to Abigail, Praise Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day, 25:33 and your discretion is blessed and you are blessed, who have kept me this day from blood guiltiness and from avenging myself with my own hand. 25:34 For indeed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, unless you had hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on the wall {i.e. a male}.
25:35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have accepted your person.
25:36 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, and he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
25:37 And it happened in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things and his heart died within him and he became as a stone. 25:38 And it happened about ten days after, that Jehovah struck Nabal, so that he died.
25:39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Praise Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and has kept back his servant from evil and Jehovah has returned the evil-doing of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as a wife.
25:40 And when the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to him as a wife. 25:41And 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.
25:42 And Abigail hastened and arose and rode upon a donkey, with five of her maidens who followed her. And she went after the messengers of David and became his wife. 25:43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel and they became his wives, both of them.
25:44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.