1 Samuel 25:2-42

2Now there was a man in 1Maon whose business was in 2Carmel; and the man was very 3rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while 4he was shearing his sheep in Carmel 3(now the man’s name was Nabal, and his 5wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was 6intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was 7a Calebite), 4that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel and 8visit Nabal, and greet him in my name; 6and this is what you shall say: ‘9Have a long life, 10peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! 7Now then, I have heard 11that you have shearers. Now, your shepherds have been with us; we have not harmed them, 12nor has anything of theirs gone missing all the days they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on 13a 14festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

9When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal in accordance with all these words in David’s name; then they waited. 10But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “15Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. 11Shall I then 16take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men 17whose origin I do not know?” 12So David’s young men made their way back and returned; and they came and informed him in accordance with all these words. 13Then David said to his men, “Each of you strap on his sword.” So each man strapped on his sword. And David also strapped on his sword, and about 18four hundred men went up behind David, while two hundred 19stayed with the baggage.

14Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to 2021greet our master, and he spoke to them in anger. 15Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not 22harmed, nor did anything go missing 23as long as we went with them, while we were in the fields. 1624They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. 17Now then, be aware and 25consider what you should do, because harm is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a 26worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

18Then Abigail hurried and 27took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine, and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain, and a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she loaded them on donkeys. 19Then she said to her young men, “28Go on ahead of me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20And it happened as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them. 21Now David had said, “It is certainly for nothing that I have guarded everything that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing has gone missing of all that belonged to him! For he has 29returned me evil for good. 2230May God do so to the enemies of David, and more so, 31if by morning I leave alive as much as one 32male of any who belong to him.”

23When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face in front of David 33and bowed herself to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said, “On me 34alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your slave speak 35to you, and listen to the words of your slave. 25Please do not let my lord 36pay attention to this 37worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. 38Nabal is his name, and stupidity is with him; but I your slave did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

26“Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from 39shedding blood, and 40from 41avenging yourself by your own hand, now then, 42may your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be like Nabal. 27And now let 43this 44gift which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who 45accompany my lord. 28Please forgive 46the offense of your slave; for 47the Lord will certainly make for my lord an 48enduring house, because my lord is 49fighting the battles of the Lord, and 50evil will not be found in you all your days. 29Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your 51life, then the 52life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the 53lives of your enemies 54He will sling out 55as from the hollow of a sling. 30And when the Lord does for my lord in accordance with all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and 56appoints you ruler over Israel, 31this will not become an obstacle to you, or a 57troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord’s having 58avenged himself. 59When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your slave.”

32Then David said to Abigail, “60Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, 33and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, 61who have kept me this day from 62bloodshed and from 63avenging myself by my own hand. 34Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, 64who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, there certainly would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one 65male.” 35So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “66Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to 67you and 6869granted your request.”

36Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having 70a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was cheerful within him, 71for he was very drunk; so 72she did not tell him anything 73at all until the morning light. 37But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became like a stone. 38About ten days later, 74the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has 75pleaded the cause of the shame inflicted on me by the hand of Nabal, and 76has kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent 7778a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41And she got up 79and bowed with her face to the ground, and said, “Behold, your slave is a servant 80to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42Then 81Abigail got up quickly, and rode on a donkey, with her five female attendants who 82accompanied her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.