1 Samuel 25:2-17

Nabal and Abigail

2 Now there was a man in ¹Maon whose business was in ²Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while ³he was shearing his sheep in Carmel

3 (now the man's name was Nabal, and his ⁴wife's name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent * and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was ⁵a Calebite ),

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

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

6 and thus you shall say, 'Have a long life, ⁶peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

7 'Now I have heard ⁷that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, ⁸nor 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 ⁹a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.' "

9 When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David's name; then they waited.

10 But Nabal answered David's servants and said, "¹⁰Who 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 ¹¹take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin * * I do not know?"

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

13 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 ¹²four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred ¹³stayed with the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to ¹⁴greet our master, and he scorned them.

15 "Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ¹⁵insulted, nor did we miss anything as long * as we went about with them, while we were in the fields.

16 "¹⁶They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep.

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."

1 Samuel 25:2-17 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

• 1. 1 Samuel 23:24
• 2. Joshua 15:55
• 3. Genesis 38:13; 2 Samuel 13:23
• 4. Proverbs 31:10
• 5. Joshua 15:13; 1 Samuel 30:14
• 6. 1 Chronicles 12:18; Psalms 122:7; Luke 10:5
• 7. 2 Samuel 13:23, 24
• 8. 1 Samuel 25:15, 21
• 9. Nehemiah 8:10-12; Esther 9:19, 22
• 10. Judges 9:28
• 11. Judges 8:6, 15
• 12. 1 Samuel 23:13
• 13. 1 Samuel 30:24
• 14. 1 Samuel 13:10; 1 Samuel 15:13
• 15. 1 Samuel 25:7, 21
• 16. Exodus 14:22; Job 1:10

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "great"
• [b]. Lit "of good understanding"
• [c]. Lit "go into"
• [d]. Lit "To life"
• [e]. Lit "good"
• [f]. Lit "from where they are"
• [g]. Lit "bless"
• [h]. Lit "all the days"
• [i]. Lit "see"
• [j]. Lit "son of Belial"