[1] Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they
buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the
wilderness of Paran. [2] And there was a man in Ma'on, whose business was
in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a
thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. [3] Now the name of
the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Ab'igail. The woman was of good
understanding and beautiful, but the man was churlish and ill-behaved; he
was a Calebite. [4] David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing
his sheep. [5] So 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. [6] And
thus you shall salute him: `Peace be to you, and peace be to your house,
and peace be to all that you have. [7] I hear that you have shearers; now
your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed
nothing, all the time they were in Carmel. [8] Ask your young men, and they
will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes; for we
come on a feast day. Pray, give whatever you have at hand to your servants
and to your son David.'" [9] When David's young men came, they said all
this to Nabal in the name of David; and then they waited. [10] And Nabal
answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There
are many servants nowadays who are breaking away from their masters. [11]
Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my
shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?" [12] So
David's young men turned away, and came back and told him all this. [13]
And David said to his men, "Every man gird on his sword!" And every man of
them girded on his sword; David also girded on his sword; and about four
hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the
baggage. [14] But one of the young men told Ab'igail, Nabal's wife,
"Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master;
and he railed at them. [15] Yet the men were very good to us, and we
suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields,
as long as we went with them; [16] they were a wall to us both by night and
by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. [17] Now
therefore know this and consider what you should do; for evil is determined
against our master and against all his house, and he is so ill-natured that
one cannot speak to him." [18] Then Ab'igail made haste, and took two
hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and
five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two
hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. [19] And she said to her
young men, "Go on before me; behold, I come after you." But she did not
tell her husband Nabal. [20] And as she rode on the ass, and came down
under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward
her; and she met them. [21] Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I
guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was
missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good.
[22] God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one
male of all who belong to him." [23] When Ab'igail saw David, she made
haste, and alighted from the ass, and fell before David on her face, and
bowed to the ground. [24] She fell at his feet and said, "Upon me alone, my
lord, be the guilt; pray let your handmaid speak in your ears, and hear the
words of your handmaid. [25] Let not my lord regard this ill-natured
fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly
is with him; but I your handmaid 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, seeing the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt, and from taking
vengeance with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek
to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. [27] And now let this present which your
servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my
lord. [28] Pray forgive the trespass of your handmaid; for the LORD will
certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the
battles of the LORD; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you
live. [29] If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of
my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the LORD
your God; and the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the
hollow of a sling. [30] And 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, [31] my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of
conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for my lord taking
vengeance himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then
remember your handmaid." [32] And David said to Ab'igail, "Blessed be the
LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! [33] Blessed be
your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from
bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! [34] For as surely as
the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you,
unless you had made haste and come to meet me, truly by morning there had
not been left to Nabal so much as one male." [35] Then David received from
her hand what she had brought him; and he said to her, "Go up in peace to
your house; see, I have hearkened to your voice, and I have granted your
petition." [36] And Ab'igail came to Nabal; and, lo, he was holding a feast
in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within
him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the
morning light. [37] And 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. [38] And about ten days later the LORD smote Nabal;
and he died. [39] When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed
be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and
has kept back his servant from evil; the LORD has returned the evil-doing
of Nabal upon his own head." Then David sent and wooed Ab'igail, to make
her his wife. [40] And when the servants of David came to Ab'igail at
Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as
his wife." [41] And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground, and
said, "Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants
of my lord." [42] And Ab'igail made haste and rose and mounted on an ass,
and her five maidens attended her; she went after the messengers of David,
and became his wife. [43] David also took Ahin'o-am of Jezreel; and both of
them became his wives. [44] Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's
wife, to Palti the son of La'ish, who was of Gallim.
