1 Samuel 25:4-37

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 1visit Nabal, and greet him in my name; 6and this is what you shall say: ‘2Have a long life, 3peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! 7Now then, I have heard 4that you have shearers. Now, your shepherds have been with us; we have not harmed them, 5nor 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 6a 7festive 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, “8Who 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 9take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men 10whose 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 11four hundred men went up behind David, while two hundred 12stayed with the baggage.

14Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to 1314greet our master, and he spoke to them in anger. 15Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not 15harmed, nor did anything go missing 16as long as we went with them, while we were in the fields. 1617They 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 18consider what you should do, because harm is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a 19worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

18Then Abigail hurried and 20took 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, “21Go 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 22returned me evil for good. 2223May God do so to the enemies of David, and more so, 24if by morning I leave alive as much as one 25male 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 26and bowed herself to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said, “On me 27alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your slave speak 28to you, and listen to the words of your slave. 25Please do not let my lord 29pay attention to this 30worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. 31Nabal 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 32shedding blood, and 33from 34avenging yourself by your own hand, now then, 35may your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be like Nabal. 27And now let 36this 37gift which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who 38accompany my lord. 28Please forgive 39the offense of your slave; for 40the Lord will certainly make for my lord an 41enduring house, because my lord is 42fighting the battles of the Lord, and 43evil will not be found in you all your days. 29Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your 44life, then the 45life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the 46lives of your enemies 47He will sling out 48as 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 49appoints you ruler over Israel, 31this will not become an obstacle to you, or a 50troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord’s having 51avenged himself. 52When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your slave.”

32Then David said to Abigail, “53Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, 33and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, 54who have kept me this day from 55bloodshed and from 56avenging myself by my own hand. 34Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, 57who 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 58male.” 35So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “59Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to 60you and 6162granted your request.”

36Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having 63a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was cheerful within him, 64for he was very drunk; so 65she did not tell him anything 66at 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.