David, Nabal and Abigail

25 Now Samuel died,u and all Israel assembled and mournedv for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.w Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.a

2 A certain man in Maon,x who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy.y He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearingz in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail.a She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.b

4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good healthc to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!d

7 “ ‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreate them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whateverf you can find for them.’ ”

9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Whog is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my breadh and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his meni, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men wentj up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.k

14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings,l but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreatm us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.n 16 Night and day they were a wallo around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wickedp man that no one can talk to him.”

18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahsb of roasted grain,q a hundred cakes of raisinsr and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.s 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead;t I’ll follow you.” But she did not tellu her husband Nabal.

20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21 David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing.v He has paidw me back evilx for good. 22 May God deal with David,c be it ever so severely,y if by morning I leave alive one malez of all who belong to him!”

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.a 24 She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord,b and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Foolc,d and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. 26 And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshede and from avengingf yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.g 27 And let this gift,h which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

28 “Please forgivei your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lastingj dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles,k and no wrongdoingl will be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life,m the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurln away as from the pocket of a sling.o 30 When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him rulerp over Israel, 31 my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, rememberq your servant.”r

32 David said to Abigail, “Praises be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshedt this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabalu would have been left alive by daybreak.”

35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and grantedv your request.”

36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in highw spirits and very drunk.x So she toldy him nothing at all until daybreak. 37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.z 38 About ten days later, the Lord strucka Nabal and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”

Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”

41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Abigailb quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife.