1 Samuel 25

25 ¹Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn him and buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

²A man in Maon had property at Carmel. He was very wealthy: 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was shearing his sheep at Carmel. ³The man's name was Nabal, his wife's Abigail. She was sensible and beautiful, but he was harsh and cruel in his dealings—a Calebite. ⁴While he was in the wilderness, David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵David sent ten young men, telling them, "Go up to Carmel. Visit Nabal and greet him in my name. ⁶Tell him: 'Long life to you. Peace to you, peace to your household, and peace to all you have.' ⁷I hear you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us; we mistreated them in nothing, and they missed nothing the whole time at Carmel. ⁸Ask your young men and they'll tell you. So let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we've come on a feast day. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and your son David."

⁹David's young men came and spoke all these words to Nabal in David's name, then waited.

¹⁰Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants today are breaking away from their masters. ¹¹Why take my bread, my water, the meat I killed for my shearers, and give it to men from I don't know where?"

¹²So David's young men turned back and reported every word to him when they arrived.

¹³David told his men, "Each of you strap on your sword!" So each strapped on his sword, David too. About 400 went up after David; 200 stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he hurled insults at them. ¹⁵These men were very good to us. They never harmed us, and we lost nothing the whole time we roamed the fields with them. ¹⁶They were a wall around us night and day, the whole time we were with them tending sheep. ¹⁷Now know and see what you should do, for disaster is set against our master and his whole household. He's so worthless no one can speak to him."

¹⁸Abigail quickly took 200 loaves, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, about thirty-five quarts of roasted grain, one hundred raisin clusters, and 200 fig cakes, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹She told her servants, "Go ahead of me; I'll follow." But she told her husband Nabal nothing. ²⁰Riding her donkey down a hidden mountain path, she met David and his men coming down toward her.

²¹Now David had been saying, "I guarded all this man had in the wilderness for nothing—none of his went missing—and he repays me evil for good. ²²May our Father do this to David's enemies, and more, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him."

²³Seeing David, Abigail quickly got off her donkey and fell facedown before him, bowing to the ground. ²⁴She fell at his feet and said, "Let the blame be mine alone, my lord. Please let your servant speak to you; hear your servant's words. ²⁵Please, my lord, ignore this worthless man Nabal, for he's like his name—Nabal means Fool, and foolishness is with him. I, your servant, didn't see the young men my lord sent. ²⁶Now, my lord, as surely as our Father lives and you live: since our Father kept you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself by your own hand, may your enemies and all who seek to harm my lord become like Nabal. ²⁷Now let this gift your servant brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸Forgive your servant's offense, for our Father will surely make my lord a lasting dynasty, because my lord fights our Father's battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. ²⁹If someone rises to pursue you and seek your life, my lord's life will be bound securely in the bundle of the living with your Father; but your enemies' lives he will hurl away as from a sling's pocket. ³⁰When our Father has done for my lord all the good he promised about you, and made you ruler over Israel, ³¹my lord will feel no grief or guilt for shedding blood without cause or taking his own revenge. And when our Father deals well with my lord, remember your servant."

³²David said to Abigail, "Blessed be our Father, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me. ³³Blessed be your good judgment, and blessed be you, who kept me today from shedding blood and avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴As surely as our Father, the God of Israel, lives, who kept me from harming you—if you hadn't hurried to meet me, not one male of Nabal's would have survived till morning."

³⁵David took from her hand what she brought, and said to her, "Go home in peace. See, I have heard your voice and granted your request."

³⁶When Abigail reached Nabal, he was hosting a feast in his house fit for a king. His heart was merry and he was very drunk, so she told him nothing until morning. ³⁷In the morning, when the wine left Nabal, his wife told him everything. His heart died within him, and he became like stone. ³⁸About ten days later, our Father struck Nabal, and he died.

³⁹When David heard Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be our Father, who pleaded my cause against the insult I suffered from Nabal and kept his servant from evil. Our Father has brought Nabal's evil back on his own head." Then David sent word asking Abigail to become his wife.

⁴⁰David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel and told her, "David sent us to take you as his wife."

⁴¹She got up, bowed facedown to the ground, and said, "Here is your servant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord's servants." ⁴²Abigail quickly got ready, mounted her donkey, and with her five attendants followed David's messengers and became his wife. ⁴³David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, so both of them were his wives. ⁴⁴Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, from Gallim.