1 Samuel 25:31-41

31 this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. ¹When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant."

32 Then David said to Abigail, "²Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me,

33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, ³who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

34 "Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, ⁴who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely * there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male *."

35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, "⁵Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and ⁶granted your request."

36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding ⁷a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, ⁸for he was very * drunk; so ⁹she did not tell him anything at all * until the morning light.

37 But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone.

38 About ten days later, ¹⁰the LORD struck Nabal and he died.

David Marries Abigail

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has ¹¹pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and ¹²has kept back His servant from evil. The LORD has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent ¹³a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you as his wife."

41 She arose ¹⁴and bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Behold, your maidservant is a maid ¹⁵to wash the feet of my lord's servants."

1 Samuel 25:31-41 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. Genesis 40:14; 1 Samuel 25:30
• 2. Exodus 18:10; 1 Kings 1:48; Psalms 41:13; Psalms 72:18; Psalms 106:48; Luke 1:68
• 3. 1 Samuel 25:26
• 4. 1 Samuel 25:26
• 5. 1 Samuel 20:42; 2 Kings 5:19
• 6. Genesis 19:21
• 7. 2 Samuel 13:28
• 8. Proverbs 20:1; Isaiah 5:11; Hosea 4:11
• 9. 1 Samuel 25:19
• 10. 1 Samuel 26:10; 2 Samuel 6:7; Psalms 104:29
• 11. 1 Samuel 24:15; Proverbs 22:23
• 12. 1 Samuel 25:26, 34
• 13. Song of Songs 8:8
• 14. 1 Samuel 25:23
• 15. Mark 1:7

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "become staggering to you or a stumbling of the heart"
• [b] Lit "saved"
• [c] Lit "coming in with blood"
• [d] Lit "saving"
• [e] Lit "who urinates against the wall"
• [f] Lit "your voice"
• [g] Lit "lifted up your face"
• [h] Lit "small or large"
• [i] Lit "and spoke"