1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered
together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at
Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of
Paran.
2 And there 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.
3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife
Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a
beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in
his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his
sheep.
5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the
young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet
him in my name:
6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace
be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be
unto all that thou hast.
7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy
shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was
there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in
Carmel.
8 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the
young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good
day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto
thy servants, and to thy son David.
9 And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according
to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David?
and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days
that break away every man from his master.
11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I
have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know
not whence they be?
12 So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and
came and told him all those sayings.
13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword.
And 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 stuff.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying,
Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute
our master; and he railed on them.
15 But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt,
neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant
with them, when we were in the fields:
16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while
we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is
determined against our master, and against all his household:
for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to
him.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two
bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five
measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins,
and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I
come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
20 And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by
the covert on the hill, and, behold, David and his men came
down against her; and she met them.
21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this
fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of
all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for
good.
22 So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave
of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that
pisseth against the wall.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the
ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to
the ground,
24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let
this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak
in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even
Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and
folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men
of my lord, whom thou didst send.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul
liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to
shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now
let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as
Nabal.
27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto
my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow
my lord.
28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the
LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord
fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found
in thee all thy days.
29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but
the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with
the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall
he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
30 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my
lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning
thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart
unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or
that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall
have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel,
which sent thee this day to meet me:
33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging
myself with mine own hand.
34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath
kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and
come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by
the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him,
and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have
hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
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, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him
nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out
of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his
heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote
Nabal, that he died.
39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be
the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the
hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the
LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head.
And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him
to wife.
40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel,
they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take
thee to him to wife.
41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and
said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet
of the servants of my lord.
42 And Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an ass, with five
damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the
messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of
them his wives.
44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to
Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.
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