1 Samuel 25:18-28

18 Abigail hurried, taking 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel^[a] of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

19 Then she said to her male servants, "Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 As she rode the donkey down a mountain pass hidden from view, she saw David and his men coming toward her and met them.

21 David had just said, "I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.

22 May God punish me,^[b] and even more if I let any of his men^[c] [survive] until morning."

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and fell with her face to the ground in front of David.

24 She fell at his feet and said, "The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant.

25 My lord should pay no attention to this worthless man Nabal, for he lives up to his name:^[d] His name is Nabal,^[e] and stupidity is all he knows.^[f] I, your servant, didn't see my lord's young men whom you sent.

26 Now my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, it is the Lord who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself by your own hand. May your enemies and those who want trouble for my lord be like Nabal.

27 Accept this gift your servant has brought to my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

28 Please forgive your servant's offense, for the Lord is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord ^[g] because he fights the Lord's battles. Throughout your life, may evil^[h] not be found in you.

1 Samuel 25:18-28 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit sheep, five seahs
• [b]. LXX; MT reads my enemies
• [c]. Lit of those of his who are urinating against the wall
• [d]. Lit for as is his name is, so he is
• [e]. Fool
• [f]. Lit and foolishness is with him
• [g]. 1 Sm 2:35
• [h]. Or trouble