1 Samuel 25:17-27

17 "Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him."

Abigail Intercedes

18 Then Abigail hurried and 1took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
19 She said to her young men, "2Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 It came about 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; so she met them.
21 Now David had said, "Surely in vain 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 3returned me evil for good.
22 "4May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, 5if by morning I leave as much as one male * of any who belong to him."
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David 6and bowed herself to the ground.
24 She fell at his feet and said, "On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant.
25 "Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
26 "Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, since the LORD has restrained you from shedding blood, and 7from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then 8let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.
27 "Now let 9this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany * my lord.

1 Samuel 25:17-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 25

This chapter gives an account of the death of Samuel, and of the ill treatment David met with from Nabal; it begins with the death of Samuel, which was greatly lamented in Israel, 1Sa 25:1; it draws the character of Nabal, and his wife, 1Sa 25:2,3; records a message of David to him, by his young men, desiring he would send him some of his provisions made for his sheep shearers, 1Sa 25:4-9; and Nabal's ill-natured answer to him reported by the young men, which provoked David to arm against him, 1Sa 25:10-13,21,22; and this being told Abigail, the wife of Nabal, and a good character given of David and his men, and of the advantage Nabal's shepherds had received from them, and the danger his family was in through his ingratitude, 1Sa 25:14-17; she prepared a present to pacify David, went with it herself, and addressed him in a very handsome, affectionate, and prudent manner, 1Sa 25:18-31; and met with a kind reception, 1Sa 25:32-35; and the chapter is closed with an account of the death of Nabal, and of the marriage of Abigail to David, 1Sa 25:32-44.

Cross References 9

  • 1. 2 Samuel 16:1; 1 Chronicles 12:40
  • 2. Genesis 32:16, 20
  • 3. Psalms 109:5; Proverbs 17:13
  • 4. 1 Samuel 3:17; 1 Samuel 20:13
  • 5. 1 Kings 14:10
  • 6. 1 Samuel 20:41
  • 7. Hebrews 10:30
  • 8. 2 Samuel 18:32
  • 9. Genesis 33:11; 1 Samuel 30:26

Footnotes 12

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