The First Book of Samuel

⭑ Berean Study Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 25 -

When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.(a)

David, Nabal, and Abigail

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.

So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name

and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and your house and to all that belongs to you.

Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son David.’”

When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.

But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters.

Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”

So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.

And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men put on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he scolded them.

Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them.

They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.

Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain,(b) a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys

and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

Now David had just finished saying, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.

May God punish David,(c) and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.

She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.

My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal,(d) for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.

Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.(e)

When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel,

then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.”

Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!

Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone.

About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

David Marries Abigail

On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking for her in marriage.

When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”

She arose, then bowed facedown and said, “Here is your maidservant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.

But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti

(f)

son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Footnotes

(a)25:1 Hebrew and some LXX manuscripts; other LXX manuscripts Maon

(b)25:18 5 seahs is approximately 33 dry quarts or 36.5 liters of roasted grain.

(d)25:25 Nabal means fool.

(e)25:29 Literally fling away the souls of your enemies as from the pocket of a sling

(f)25:44 Palti is a variant of Paltiel; see 2 Samuel 3:15.

Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

David, Nabal, and Abigail

There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.

David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

David 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.

Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have!

Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal all those words in the name of David, and waited.

Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.

Shall I then take my bread, 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?”

So David’s young men turned on their way and went back, and came and told him all these words.

David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!” Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed by the baggage.

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 insulted them.

But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields.

They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

Now 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.”

Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs

(a)

of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal.

As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.

God 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 who urinates on a wall.”(b)

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground.

She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant.

Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal

(c)

is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, since the LORD 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.

Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the LORD’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days.

Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies as from a sling’s pocket.

It will come to pass, when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel,

that 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 the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

David said to Abigail, “Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me!

Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

For indeed, as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless 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 who urinates on a wall.”(d)

So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.”

Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light.

In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, so that he died.

David Marries Abigail

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. The LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife.

When David’s servants had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.”

She arose and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

Abigail hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives.

Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

Footnotes

(a)25:18 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks

(b)25:22 or, male.

(d)25:34 or, one male.