1 Samuel 25:18-28

18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.

19 And she said unto her servants, "Go on before me; behold, I come after you." But she told not her husband Nabal.

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 down toward 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.

22 So, and more also, do God unto the enemies of David if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that urinates against the wall."

23 And when Abigail saw David, she hastened and alighted from the ass, and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground,

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 handmaid, saw not the young men of my lord whom thou didst send.

26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withheld thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies and those who seek evil for my lord be as Nabal.

27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men who follow my lord.

28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid; for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.

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.