1 Samuel 25:5-15

5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, "Get you up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity: `Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.

7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers. Now thy shepherds who were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missing from them all the while they were in Carmel.

8 Ask thy young men and they will show thee. Therefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants and to thy son David.'"

9 And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

10 And Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away every man from his master.

11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my slaughter that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not from whence they are?"

12 So David's young men turned their way and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.

13 And David said unto his men, "Gird ye on every man his sword." And they girded on every man his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about four hundred men, and two hundred stayed by the supplies.

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

15 But the men were very good unto us and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything as long as we were occupied with them when we were in the fields.

1 Samuel 25:5-15 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.