1 Samuel 25:33-43

33 And blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou, who hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand.

34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, who hath kept me back from hurting thee, unless thou hadst hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any who urinates against the wall."

35 So David received from 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 Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken; therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

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

38 And it came to pass about ten days after that the LORD smote Nabal, so that he died.

39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD who 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 David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him as wife.

40 And when the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke unto her, saying, "David sent us unto thee to take thee to him as 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 Abigail hastened and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers who went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they were also both of them his wives.

1 Samuel 25:33-43 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.