1 Samuel 25:11

11 I'm not going to take my bread and water, and the animals I have butchered for my sheepshearers, and give them to people who come from I don't know where!"

1 Samuel 25:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:11

Shall I then take my bread, and my water
Which include all food and liquors, everything eatable and drinkable; and "water" may be particularly mentioned, because very scarce in the wilderness, and so precious; though the Septuagint version has "wine" instead of "water":

and my flesh which I have killed for my shearers;
whether oxen, or sheep, or lambs, as there might be of each sort, for an entertainment made on such an occasion:

and give [it] unto men whom I know not whence they [be]?
which is another argument Abarbinel makes use of that he meant not David, but his men only, because he did not know who and from whence they were.

1 Samuel 25:11 In-Context

9 David's men delivered this message to Nabal in David's name. Then they waited there,

10 and Nabal finally answered, "David? Who is he? I've never heard of him! The country is full of runaway slaves nowadays!

11 I'm not going to take my bread and water, and the animals I have butchered for my sheepshearers, and give them to people who come from I don't know where!"

12 David's men went back to him and told him what Nabal had said.

13 "Buckle on your swords!" he ordered, and they all did. David also buckled on his sword and left with about four hundred of his men, leaving two hundred behind with the supplies.