1 Samuel 25

1And 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. 2And a man in Maon, whose possessions in Carmel; and the man very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3Now the name of the man Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man churlish and evil in his doings; and he of the house of Caleb. 4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. 5And 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: 6And thus shall ye say to him that liveth , Peace both to you, and peace to your house, and peace unto all that you hast. 7And now I have heard that you hast shearers: now your shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will shew you. therefore let the young men find favour in your eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray you, whatsoever cometh to your hand unto your servants, and to your son David. 9And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 10And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who David? and who the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. 11Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give unto men, whom I know not from where they ? 12So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings. 13And 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. 14But 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. 15But the men 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: 16They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he a son of Belial, that cannot speak to him. 18Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched , and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid on asses. 19And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. 20And it was she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. 21Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that unto him: and he has requited me evil for good. 22So and more also do Elohim unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 23And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, 24And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, me iniquity : and let your handmaid, I pray you, speak in your audience, and hear the words of your handmaid. 25Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this man of Belial, Nabal: for as his name , so he; Nabal his name, and folly with him: but I your handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom you didst send. 26Now therefore, my lord, the Yahuah liveth, and your soul liveth, seeing the Yahuah has withholden you from coming to blood, and from avenging thyself with your own hand, now let your enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27And now this blessing which your handmaid has brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28I pray you, forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for the Yahuah will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the Yahuah, and evil has not been found in you your days. 29Yet a man is risen to pursue you, and to seek your soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Yahuah your Elohim; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, of the middle of a sling. 30And it shall come to pass, when the Yahuah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you ruler over Israel; 31That this shall be no grief unto you, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that you hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord has avenged himself: but when the Yahuah shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid. 32And David said to Abigail, Blessed the Yahuah Elohim of Israel, which sent you this day to meet me: 33And blessed your advice, and blessed you, which hast kept me this day from coming to blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. 34For in very deed, the Yahuah Elohim of Israel liveth, which has kept me back from hurting you, except you 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. 35So David received of her hand which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to your house; see, I have hearkened to your voice, and have accepted your person. 36And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart merry within him, for he very drunken: therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37But 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 a stone. 38And it came to pass about ten days , that the Yahuah smote Nabal, that he died. 39And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed the Yahuah, that has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept his servant from evil: for the Yahuah has returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. 40And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto you, to take you to him to wife. 41And she arose, and bowed herself on face to the earth, and said, Behold, your handmaid a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42And 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. 43David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives. 44But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which of Gallim.