1 Samuel Chapter 25

1 Samuel Chapter 25
1 Then Samuel died, and all Israel
assembled, and mourned for him, and
buried him in his own house at Ramah.
And David arose and went down to the
wilderness of Paran.
2 Now in Maon was a man, who had his
possession in Carmel, and the man was
exceeding mighty and had three thousand
sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was
shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 The name also of the man was Nabal,
and the name of his wife Abigail, and
she was a woman of singular wisdom,
and beautiful, but the
man was churlish, and evil conditioned,
and was of the family of Caleb. 4 And
David heard in the wilderness, that
Nabal did shear his sheep. 5 Therefore
David sent ten young men, and David
said unto the young men, Go up to
Carmel, and go to Nabal, and ask him in
my name how he doeth. 6 And thus shall
ye say for salutation, Both thou, and
thine house, and all that thou hast, be in
peace, wealth and prosperity.
7 Behold, I have heard, that thou hast
shearers: now thy shepherds were with
us, and we did them no hurt, neither did
they miss anything all the while they
were in Carmel.
8 Ask thy servants and they will show
thee. Wherefore let these young men find
favor in thine eyes: (for we come in a
good season) 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 told
Nabal all those words in the name of
David, and held their peace.
10 Then 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 servants turned their way,
and went again, and came, and told him
all those things.
13 And David said unto his men, Gird
every man his sword about him. And
they girded every man his sword: David
also girded his sword. And about four
hundred men went up after David, and
two hundred abode by the carriage. 14
Now one of the servants told Abigail
Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent
messengers out of the wilderness to
salute our master, and he railed on them.
15 Notwithstanding the men were very
good unto us, and we had no
displeasure, neither missed we anything
as long as we were conversant with
them, when we were in the fields.
16 They were as a wall unto us both by
night and by day, all the while we were
with them keeping sheep.
17 Now therefore take heed, and see
what thou shalt do: for evil will surely
come upon our master, and upon all his
family: for he is so wicked that a man
cannot speak to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took
two hundred cakes, and two bottles of
wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and
five measures of parched corn, and an
hundred frails of raisins, and two
hundred of figs, and laded them on asses.
19 Then she said unto her servants, Go
ye before me: behold, I will come after
you: yet she told not her husband Nabal.
20 And as she rode on her ass, she came
down by a secret place of the mountain,
and behold, David and his men came
down against her, and she met them.
21 And David said, Indeed I have kept
all in vain that this fellow had in the
wilderness, so that nothing was missed
of all that pertained unto him: for he hath
requited me evil for good.
22 So and more also do God unto the
enemies of David: for surely I will not
leave of all that he hath, by the dawning
of the day, any that pisseth against the
wall.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she
hasted and lighted off her ass, and fell
before David on her face, and bowed
herself to the ground,
24 And fell at his feet, and said, Oh, my
lord, I have committed the iniquity, and I
pray thee, let thine handmaid speak to
thee, and hear thou the words of thine
handmaid.
25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard
this wicked man 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
sentest.
26 Now therefore my lord, as the Lord
liveth, and as thy soul liveth (the Lord, I
say, that hath withholden thee from
coming to shed blood, and that thine
hand should not save thee) so now thine
enemies shall be as Nabal, and they that
intend to do my lord evil.
27 And now, this blessing which thine
handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let
it be given unto the young men, that
follow my lord.
28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of
thine handmaid: for the Lord will make
my lord a sure house, because my lord
fighteth the battles of the Lord, and none
evil hath been found in thee in all thy
life.
29 Yet a man hath risen up to persecute
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 soul
of thine enemies shall God cast out, as
out of the middle of a sling. 30 And
when the Lord shall have done to my
lord all the good that he hath promised
thee, and shall have made thee ruler over
Israel,
31 Then shall it be no grief unto thee,
nor offence of mind unto my lord, that he
hath not shed blood causeless, nor that
my lord hath not preserved himself: and
when the Lord shall have dealt well with
my lord, remember thine handmaid.
32 Then David said to Abigail, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, which sent
thee this day to meet me.
33 And blessed be thy counsel, and
blessed be thou, which hast kept me this
day from coming to shed blood, and that
mine hand hath not saved me. 34 For
indeed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth,
who hath kept me back from hurting thee,
except thou hadst hasted and met me,
surely there had not been left unto Nabal
by the dawning of the day, any that
pisseth against the wall. 35 Then David
received of her hand that which she had
brought him, and said to her, Go up in
peace to thine house: behold, I have
heard thy voice, and have granted thy
petition.
36 So Abigail came to Nabal, and
behold, he made 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,
neither less nor more, until the morning
arose.
37 Then in the morning when the wine
was gone out of Nabal, his wife told him
those words, and his heart died within
him, and he was like a stone. 38 And
about ten days after, the Lord smote
Nabal, that he died. 39 Now when
David heard, that Nabal was dead, he
said, Blessed be the Lord that hath
judged the cause of my rebuke of the
hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant
from evil: for the Lord hath
recompensed the wickedness of Nabal
upon his own head. Also David sent to
commune with Abigail to take her to his
wife.
40 And when the servants of David were
come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake
unto her, saying, David sent us to thee, to
take thee to his 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, and her five maids
followed her, and she went after the
messengers of David, and was his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel,
and they were both his wives. 44 Now
Saul had given Michal his daughter
David's wife to Palti the son of Laish,
which was of Gallim.