1 Samuel 23:29–26:25

²⁹Then David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds at ^tEn Gedi.

David Spares Saul

24Now it happened, ^awhen Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” ²Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and ^bwent to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. ³So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and ^cSaul went in to ^dattend to his needs. (^eDavid and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.) ^4fThen the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁵Now it happened afterward that ^gDavid’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. ⁶And he said to his men, ^h“The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” ⁷So David ⁱrestrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.

⁸David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down. ⁹And David said to Saul: ^j“Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’? ¹⁰Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ¹¹Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is ^kneither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you ^lhunt my life to take it. ^12mLet the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you. ¹³As the proverb of the ancients says, ⁿ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand shall not be against you. ¹⁴After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? ^oA dead dog? ^pA flea? ^15qTherefore let the Lord be judge, and judge between you and me, and ^rsee and ^splead my case, and deliver me out of your hand.”

¹⁶So it was, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, ^t“Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. ^17uThen he said to David: “You are ^vmore righteous than I; for ^wyou have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. ¹⁸And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when ^xthe Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. ¹⁹For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. ²⁰And now ^yI know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. ^21zTherefore swear now to me by the Lord ^athat you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.”

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

Death of Samuel

25Then ^aSamuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and ^blamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down ^cto the Wilderness of ¹Paran.

David and the Wife of Nabal

²Now there was a man ^din Maon whose business was in ^eCarmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of ^fCaleb.

⁴When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was ^gshearing his sheep, ⁵David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. ⁶And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ^h‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! ⁷Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, ⁱnor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. ⁸Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore ²let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on ^ja feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

⁹So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.

¹⁰Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, ^k“Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. ^11lShall I then take my bread and my water and my ³meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?”

¹²So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. ¹³Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred ^mstayed with the supplies.

¹⁴Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he ⁴reviled them. ¹⁵But the men were very good to us, and ⁿwe were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. ¹⁶They were ^oa wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for ^pharm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a ^qscoundrel ⁵that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸Then Abigail made haste and ^rtook two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹And she said to her servants, ^s“Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. ²¹Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has ^trepaid me evil for good. ^22uMay God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I ^vleave ^wone male of all who belong to him by morning light.”

²³Now when Abigail saw David, she ^xdismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. ²⁴So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant ⁶speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. ²⁵Please, let not my lord ⁷regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: ⁸Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. ²⁶Now therefore, my lord, ^yas the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has ^zheld you back from coming to bloodshed and from ^aavenging ⁹yourself with your own hand, now then, ^blet your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. ²⁷And now ^cthis present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For ^dthe Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord ^efights the battles of the Lord, ^fand evil is not found in you throughout your days. ²⁹Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be ^gbound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall ^hsling out, as from the pocket of a sling. ³⁰And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ⁱruler over Israel, ³¹that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

³²Then David said to Abigail: ^j“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! ³³And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have ^kkept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. ³⁴For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has ^lkept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely ^mby morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!” ³⁵So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, ⁿ“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and ^orespected your person.”

³⁶Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was, ^pholding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until morning light. ³⁷So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. ³⁸Then it happened, after about ten days, that the Lord ^qstruck Nabal, and he died.

³⁹So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, ^r“Blessed be the Lord, who has ^spleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has ^tkept His servant from evil! For the Lord…