1 Samuel 24–26

CHAPTER 24

David Does Not Kill Saul

¹Now ^awhen Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, ^bhe was told, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.”

²Then ^aSaul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

³And he came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul ^awent in to ¹relieve himself. Now ^bDavid and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave.

⁴Then the men of David said to him, “Behold, ^athis is the day of which Yahweh said to you, ‘Behold, ^bI am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good in your eyes.’” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly.

⁵And it happened afterward that ^aDavid’s heart struck him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe.

⁶So he said to his men, “^aFar be it from me because of Yahweh that I should do this thing to my lord, the anointed of Yahweh, to send forth my hand against him, since he is the anointed of Yahweh.”

⁷And David tore his men to pieces with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, ¹left the cave, and went on his way.

⁸Now afterward David arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, ^aDavid bowed with his ¹face to the ground and prostrated himself.

⁹And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks ¹to do you evil’?

¹⁰“^aBehold, this day your eyes have seen that Yahweh had given you today into my hand in the cave, and ^bsome said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not send forth my hand against my lord, for he is the anointed of Yahweh.’

¹¹“Now, ^amy father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the edge of your robe and did not kill you, know and see that there is no evil or transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you ^bare lying in wait for my life to take it.

¹²“^aMay Yahweh judge between ¹you and me, and may Yahweh avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you.

¹³“As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘^aOut of the wicked comes forth wickedness’; but my hand shall not be against you.

¹⁴“After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? ^aAfter a dead dog, after ^ba single flea?

¹⁵“^aTherefore Yahweh be judge and execute justice between ¹you and me; and may He see and ^bplead my cause and execute justice for me to escape from your hand.”

¹⁶Now it happened that when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “^aIs this your voice, my son David?” Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

^17aAnd he said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for ^byou have dealt well with me, while I have dealt evil with you.

¹⁸“And you have declared today that you have done good to me, that ^aYahweh surrendered me into your hand, and yet you did not kill me.

¹⁹“For if a man ^afinds his enemy, will he let him go away ¹safely? May Yahweh therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day.

²⁰“So now, behold, ^aI know that you will surely be king, and that ^bthe kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.

²¹“So now ^aswear to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my seed after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s household.”

²²So David swore to Saul. And Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to ^athe fortress.

CHAPTER 25

The Death of Samuel

^1aThen Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and ^blamented for him and ^cburied him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the ^dwilderness of Paran.

David and Abigail

²Now there was a man in ^aMaon whose work was in ^bCarmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. And it happened, while ^che was shearing his sheep in Carmel

³(now the man’s name was Nabal, and his ^awife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was good in insight and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was ^ba Calebite),

⁴that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

⁵So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, come to Nabal, and greet him in my name;

⁶and thus you shall say, ‘¹Have a long life; ^apeace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

⁷‘So now I have heard ^athat you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us; and we have not dishonored them, ^bnor have they missed anything all the days 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 have come on ^aa ¹festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son, to David.’”

⁹Then David’s young men came and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name. Then they waited.

¹⁰But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “^aWho is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master.

¹¹“Shall I then ^atake my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men ¹whose origin I do not know?”

¹²So David’s young men went back on their way and returned; and they came and told him according to all these words.

¹³Then David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about ^afour hundred men went up behind David, and two hundred ^bstayed with the baggage.

¹⁴But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to ^1agreet our master, and he rushed at them angrily.

¹⁵“Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ^adishonored, nor did we miss anything ¹as long as we went about with them, while we were in the field.

¹⁶“^aThey were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them shepherding the sheep.

¹⁷“So now, know and see what you should do, for evil is decided against our master and against all his household; and he is such a ¹vile man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail’s Discernment

¹⁸Then Abigail hurried and ^atook two hundred loaves of bread and two ¹jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and ²five seahs of roasted grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

¹⁹Then she said to her young men, “^aGo on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰So it was happening, as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; and she met them.

²¹Now David had said, “Surely for a lie I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has ^areturned me evil for good.

²²“^aMay God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, ^bif by morning I leave as much as one ¹male of any who belong to him.”

²³Then Abigail saw David; so she hurried and dismounted from her donkey and fell on her face ¹before David ^aand bowed herself to the ground.

²⁴And she fell at his feet and said, “On me ¹alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and listen to the words of your maidservant.

²⁵“Please do not let my lord ¹pay attention to this ²vile man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. ³Nabal is his name, and wicked foolishness is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

²⁶“So now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has restrained you from ¹shedding blood, and ^afrom saving yourself by your own hand, so now, ^blet your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.

²⁷“So now let ^athis ¹gift which your servant-woman has brought to my lord be given to the young men who ²went about with my lord.

²⁸“Please forgive ^athe transgression of your maidservant; for ^bYahweh will certainly make for my lord an enduring house because my lord is ^cfighting the battles of Yahweh, and ^devil will not be found in you all your days.

²⁹“And should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your ¹life, then the ²life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Yahweh your God; but the ³lives of your enemies ^aHe will sling out ⁴as from the hollow of a sling.

³⁰“And it will be that when Yahweh does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and ^aappoints you ruler over Israel,

³¹then this will not ¹cause stumbling or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having saved himself. ^aWhen Yahweh deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

³²Then David said to Abigail, “^aBlessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me,

³³and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, ^awho have kept me this day from ¹bloodshed and from saving myself by my own hand.

³⁴“Nevertheless, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, ^awho has restrained me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one ¹male.”

³⁵So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “^aGo up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice and ^1bgranted your request.”

³⁶Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding ^aa feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, ^bfor he was very drunk; so ^cshe did not tell him anything small or great until the morning light.

³⁷But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone.

³⁸Now it happened that about ten days later, ^aYahweh smote Nabal, and he died.

Abigail Becomes David’s…