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.

New Revised Standard NRS

1 Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2 There was a man in Maon, whose property was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean; he was a Calebite.

4 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, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

6 Thus you shall salute him: "Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

7 I hear that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing, all the time they were in Carmel.

8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight; for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.' "

9 When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David; and then they waited.

10 But Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters.

11 Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?"

12 So David's young men turned away, and came back and told him all this.

13 David said to his men, "Every man strap on his sword!" And every one of them strapped on his sword; David also strapped on his sword; and about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he shouted insults at them.

15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we never missed anything when we were in the fields, as long as we were with them;

16 they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

17 Now therefore know this and consider what you should do; for evil has been decided against our master and against all his house; he is so ill-natured that no one can speak to him."

18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys

19 and said to her young men, "Go on ahead of me; I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 As she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.

21 Now David had said, "Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; but he has returned me evil for good.

22 God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him."

23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and alighted from the donkey, and fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground.

24 She fell at his feet and said, "Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.

25 My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

26 "Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal.

27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.

29 If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

30 When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel,

31 my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant."

32 David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!

33 Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand!

34 For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male."

35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition."

36 Abigail came to Nabal; he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him; 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, "Blessed be the Lord who has judged the case of Nabal's insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head." Then David sent and wooed Abigail, to make her his wife.

40 When David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife."

41 She rose and bowed down, with her face to the ground, and said, "Your servant is a slave to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."

42 Abigail got up hurriedly and rode away on a donkey; her five maids attended her. She went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

43 David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel; both of them became his wives.

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