1
And Samueldied; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And Davidarose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2
And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was verygreat, and he had threethousandsheep, and a thousandgoats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3
Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wifeAbigail: and she was a woman of goodunderstanding, and of a beautifulcountenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
7
And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there oughtmissing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
8
Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young menfindfavour in thine eyes: for we come in a goodday:give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy sonDavid.
10
And NabalansweredDavid'sservants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be manyservants now a days that break away every manfrom his master.
13
And Davidsaid unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went upafterDavid about fourhundredmen; and two hundredabode by the stuff.
14
But one of the young mentoldAbigail,Nabal'swife,saying, Behold, Davidsentmessengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
15
But the men were verygood unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
17
Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.
18
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundredloaves, and twobottles of wine, and fivesheep ready dressed, and fivemeasures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundredcakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
20
And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came downagainst her; and she met them.
21
Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
24
And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25
Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaidsaw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
26
Now therefore, my lord, as the LORDliveth, and as thy soulliveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seekevil to my lord, be as Nabal.
28
I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainlymake my lord a surehouse; because my lordfighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
29
Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middleof a sling.
30
And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31
That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shedbloodcauseless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
34
For in very deed, as the LORDGod of Israelliveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morninglight any that pisseth against the wall.
35
So Davidreceived of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house;see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36
And Abigailcame to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal'sheart was merry within him, for he was verydrunken: wherefore she told him nothing,less or more, until the morninglight.
37
But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heartdiedwithin him, and he became as a stone.
39
And when Davidheard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And Davidsent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
41
And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42
And Abigailhasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with fivedamsels of hers that wentafter her; and she wentafter the messengers of David, and became his wife.