Parallel Bible results for "1 samuel 25"

1 Samuel 25

Common English Bible CEB

1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. David then left and went down to the Maon wilderness.

2 There was a man in Maon who did business in Carmel. He was a very important man and owned three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. At that time, he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 The man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and attractive woman, but her husband was a hard man who did evil things. He was a Calebite.

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

5 So David sent ten servants, telling them, "Go up to Carmel. When you get to Nabal, greet him for me.

6 Say this to him: ‘Peace to you, your household, and all that is yours!

7 I've heard that you are now shearing sheep. As you know, your shepherds were with us in the wilderness. We didn't mistreat them. Moreover, the whole time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs went missing.

8 Ask your servants; they will tell you the same. So please receive these young men favorably, because we've come on a special day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your servants and to your son David.'"

9 When David's young men arrived, they said all this to Nabal on David's behalf. Then they waited.

10 But Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is Jesse's son? There are all sorts of slaves running away from their masters these days.

11 Why should I take my bread, my water, and the meat I've butchered for my shearers and give it to people who came here from who knows where?"

12 So David's young servants turned around and went back the way they came. When they arrived, they reported every word of this to David.

13 Then David said to his soldiers, "All of you, strap on your swords!" So each of them strapped on their swords, and David did the same. Nearly four hundred men went up with David. Two hundred men remained back with the supplies.

14 One of Nabal's servants told his wife Abigail, "David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he just yelled at them.

15 But the men were very good to us and didn't mistreat us. Nothing of ours went missing the whole time we were out with them in the fields.

16 In fact, the whole time we were with them, watching our sheep, they were a protective wall around us both night and day.

17 Think about that and see what you can do, because trouble is coming for our master and his whole household. But he's such a despicable person no one can speak to him."

18 Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep ready for cooking, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes. She loaded all this on donkeys

19 and told her servants, "Go on ahead of me. I'll be right behind you." But she didn't tell her husband Nabal.

20 As she was riding her donkey, going down a trail on the hillside, David and his soldiers appeared, descending toward her, and she met up with them.

21 David had just been saying, "What a waste of time—guarding all this man's stuff in the wilderness so that nothing of his went missing! He has repaid me evil instead of good!

22 May God deal harshly with me, David, and worse still if I leave alive even one single male belonging to him come morning!"

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and fell facedown before him, bowing low to the ground.

24 She fell at his feet and said, "Put the blame on me, my master! But please let me, your servant, speak to you directly. Please listen to what your servant has to say.

25 Please, my master, pay no attention to this despicable man Nabal. He's exactly what his name says he is! His name means fool, and he is foolish! But I myself, your servant, didn't see the young men that you, my master, sent.

26 I pledge, my master, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, that the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and taking vengeance into your own hands! But now let your enemies and those who seek to harm my master be exactly like Nabal!

27 Here is a gift, which your servant has brought to my master. Please let it be given to the young men who follow you, my master.

28 Please forgive any offense by your servant. The LORD will definitely make an enduring dynasty for my master because my master fights the LORD's battles, and nothing evil will be found in you throughout your lifetime.

29 If someone chases after you and tries to kill you, my master, then your life will be bound up securely in the bundle of life by the LORD your God, but he will fling away your enemies' lives as from the pouch of a sling.

30 When the LORD has done for my master all the good things he has promised you, and has installed you as Israel's leader,

31 don't let this be a blot or burden on my master's conscience, that you shed blood needlessly or that my master took vengeance into his own hands. When the LORD has done good things for my master, please remember your servant."

32 David said to Abigail, "Bless the LORD God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!

33 And bless you and your good judgment for preventing me from shedding blood and taking vengeance into my own hands today!

34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD God of Israel lives—the one who kept me from hurting you—if you hadn't come quickly and met up with me, there wouldn't be one single male left come morning."

35 Then David accepted everything she had brought for him. "Return home in peace," he told her. "Be assured that I've heard your request and have agreed to it."

36 When Abigail got back home to Nabal, he was throwing a party fit for a king in his house. Nabal was in a great mood and very drunk, so Abigail didn't tell him anything until daybreak.

37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him everything. Nabal's heart failed inside him, and he became like a stone.

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

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Bless the LORD, who has rendered a verdict regarding Nabal's insult to me and who kept me, his servant, from doing something evil! The LORD has brought Nabal's evil down on his own head." Then David sent word to Abigail, saying that he would take her as his wife.

40 When David's servants reached Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you so you can become his wife."

41 She bowed low to the ground and said, "I am your servant, ready to serve and wash the feet of my master's helpers."

42 Then Abigail got up quickly and rode on her donkey, with five of her young women going with her. She followed David's messengers and became his wife.

43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, so both of them were his wives.

44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti, Laish's son, from Gallim.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Samuel died. The whole country came to his funeral. Everyone grieved over his death, and he was buried in his hometown of Ramah. Meanwhile, David moved again, this time to the wilderness of Maon.

2 There was a certain man in Maon who carried on his business in the region of Carmel. He was very prosperous - three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and it was sheep-shearing time in Carmel.

3 The man's name was Nabal (Fool), a Calebite, and his wife's name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and good-looking, the man brutish and mean.

4 David, out in the backcountry, heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep

5 and sent ten of his young men off with these instructions: "Go to Carmel and approach Nabal. Greet him in my name, 'Peace!

6 Life and peace to you. Peace to your household, peace to everyone here!

7 I heard that it's sheep-shearing time. Here's the point: When your shepherds were camped near us we didn't take advantage of them. They didn't lose a thing all the time they were with us in Carmel.

8 Ask your young men - they'll tell you. What I'm asking is that you be generous with my men - share the feast! Give whatever your heart tells you to your servants and to me, David your son.'"

9 David's young men went and delivered his message word for word to Nabal. Nabal tore into them,

10 "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? The country is full of runaway servants these days.

11 Do you think I'm going to take good bread and wine and meat freshly butchered for my sheepshearers and give it to men I've never laid eyes on? Who knows where they've come from?"

12 David's men got out of there and went back and told David what he had said.

13 David said, "Strap on your swords!" They all strapped on their swords, David and his men, and set out, four hundred of them. Two hundred stayed behind to guard the camp.

14 Meanwhile, one of the young shepherds told Abigail, Nabal's wife, what had happened: "David sent messengers from the backcountry to salute our master, but he tore into them with insults.

15 Yet these men treated us very well. They took nothing from us and didn't take advantage of us all the time we were in the fields.

16 They formed a wall around us, protecting us day and night all the time we were out tending the sheep.

17 Do something quickly because big trouble is ahead for our master and all of us. Nobody can talk to him. He's impossible - a real brute!"

18 Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep dressed out and ready for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she had it all loaded on some donkeys.

19 Then she said to her young servants, "Go ahead and pave the way for me. I'm right behind you." But she said nothing to her husband Nabal.

20 As she was riding her donkey, descending into a ravine, David and his men were descending from the other end, so they met there on the road.

21 David had just said, "That sure was a waste, guarding everything this man had out in the wild so that nothing he had was lost - and now he rewards me with insults. A real slap in the face!

22 May God do his worst to me if Nabal and every cur in his misbegotten brood isn't dead meat by morning!"

23 As soon as Abigail saw David, she got off her donkey and fell on her knees at his feet, her face to the ground in homage,

24 saying, "My master, let me take the blame! Let me speak to you. Listen to what I have to say.

25 Don't dwell on what that brute Nabal did. He acts out the meaning of his name: Nabal, Fool. Foolishness oozes from him.

26 And now, my master, as God lives and as you live, God has kept you from this avenging murder - and may your enemies, all who seek my master's harm, end up like Nabal!

27 Now take this gift that I, your servant girl, have brought to my master, and give it to the young men who follow in the steps of my master.

28 "Forgive my presumption! But God is at work in my master, developing a rule solid and dependable. My master fights God's battles! As long as you live no evil will stick to you.

29 If anyone stands in your way, if anyone tries to get you out of the way, Know this: Your God-honored life is tightly bound in the bundle of God-protected life; But the lives of your enemies will be hurled aside as a stone is thrown from a sling.

30 "When God completes all the goodness he has promised my master and sets you up as prince over Israel,

31 my master will not have this dead weight in his heart, the guilt of an avenging murder. And when God has worked things for good for my master, remember me."

32 And David said, "Blessed be God, the God of Israel. He sent you to meet me!

33 And blessed be your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and taking charge of looking out for me.

34 A close call! As God lives, the God of Israel who kept me from hurting you, if you had not come as quickly as you did, stopping me in my tracks, by morning there would have been nothing left of Nabal but dead meat."

35 Then David accepted the gift she brought him and said, "Return home in peace. I've heard what you've said and I'll do what you've asked."

36 When Abigail got home she found Nabal presiding over a huge banquet. He was in high spirits - and very, very drunk. So she didn't tell him anything of what she'd done until morning.

37 But in the morning, after Nabal had sobered up, she told him the whole story. Right then and there he had a heart attack and fell into a coma.

38 About ten days later God finished him off and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead he said, "Blessed be God who has stood up for me against Nabal's insults, kept me from an evil act, and let Nabal's evil boomerang back on him."

40 David's servants went to Abigail at Carmel with the message, "David sent us to bring you to marry him."

41 She got up, and then bowed down, face to the ground, saying, "I'm your servant, ready to do anything you want. I'll even wash the feet of my master's servants!"

42 Abigail didn't linger. She got on her donkey and, with her five maids in attendance, went with the messengers to David and became his wife.

43 David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Both women were his wives.

44 Saul had married off David's wife Michal to Palti (Paltiel) son of Laish, who was from Gallim.