1 Samuel 25; 1 Samuel 26; 1 Samuel 27

1 Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David went to the desert of Paran.

2 Now, there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very rich man. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 This man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. She was sensible and beautiful, but he was harsh and mean. He was a descendant of Caleb.

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

5 So David sent ten young men and told them, "Go to Carmel, visit Nabal, and greet him for me.

6 Say to him, 'May you live [long]! May you, your home, and all you have prosper!

7 I hear that your sheepshearers are with you. Your shepherds have been with us, [and] we have not mistreated them. Nothing of theirs has been missing as long as they've been in Carmel.

8 Ask your young men, and let them tell you. Be kind to my young men, since we have come on a special occasion. Please give us and your son David anything you can [spare].'"

9 When David's young men came to Nabal, they repeated all of this to him for David, and then they waited.

10 "Who is David?" Nabal answered David's servants. "Who is Jesse's son? So many servants nowadays are leaving their masters.

11 Should I take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to men coming from who knows where?"

12 David's young men returned and told him all this.

13 "Each of you put on your swords!" David told his men. And everyone, including David, put on his sword. About four hundred men went with David, while two hundred men stayed with the supplies.

14 One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, who yelled at them.

15 Those men were very good to us. They didn't mistreat us, and we found that nothing was missing wherever we went with them when we were in the fields.

16 They were a wall protecting us day and night as long as we were watching the sheep near them.

17 Now, consider what you should do because our master and his whole household are doomed. And he's such a worthless man that it's useless to talk to him."

18 So Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, 2 full wineskins, 5 butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them on donkeys.

19 "Go on ahead," she told her young men, "and I'll follow you." But she didn't tell her husband Nabal about it.

20 She was riding on her donkey down a hidden mountain path when she met David and his men coming toward her.

21 David had thought, "I guarded this man's stuff in the desert for nothing! Not one of his possessions was missing. Yet, he has paid me back with evil when I was good to him.

22 May God punish me if I leave even one of his men alive in the morning."

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down from her donkey. She immediately bowed down in front of David with her face touching the ground.

24 After she bowed at his feet, she said, "Sir, let me be held responsible for this wrong. Please let me speak with you. Please listen to my words.

25 You shouldn't take this worthless person Nabal seriously. He is like his name. His name is Nabal [Godless Fool], and he's foolish. But I didn't see the young men you sent.

26 "The LORD has kept you from spilling innocent blood and from getting a victory by your own efforts. Now, sir, I solemnly swear, as the LORD and you live, may your enemies and those who are trying to harm you end up like Nabal.

27 Here is a gift I am bringing to you. May it be given to the young men who are in your service.

28 Please forgive my offense. The LORD will certainly give you, sir, a lasting dynasty, because you are fighting the LORD's battles. May evil never be found in you as long as you live.

29 Even though someone pursued you and sought your life, your life is wrapped in the bundle of life which comes from the LORD your God. But he will dispose of the lives of your enemies like stones thrown from a sling.

30 When the LORD does all the good he promised and makes you ruler of Israel,

31 you shouldn't have a troubled conscience because you spilled blood for no good reason and claimed your own victory. When the LORD has given you success, remember me."

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

33 May your good judgment be blessed. Also, may you be blessed for keeping me from slaughtering people today and from getting a victory by my own efforts.

34 But I solemnly swear--as the LORD God of Israel, who has kept me from harming you, lives--if you hadn't come to meet me quickly, Nabal certainly wouldn't have had one of his men left at dawn."

35 Then David accepted what she brought him and told her, "Go home in peace. I've listened to what you've said and granted your request."

36 When Abigail came to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his home. It was like a king's banquet. He was in a good mood and very drunk, so she didn't tell him anything until dawn.

37 But in the morning, when the effects of the wine had worn off, his wife told him what had happened. Nabal's heart failed, and he could not move.

38 About ten days later the LORD made him even more sick, and Nabal died.

39 When David heard Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who defended me against the insults of Nabal and kept me from doing wrong. The LORD has turned Nabal's own wickedness back on him." Then David sent men [on his behalf] to propose marriage to Abigail.

40 When David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they told her, "David has sent us to you so that we can take you to him to be his wife."

41 She bowed down with her face touching the ground. "I am ready to serve," she said. "I am ready to wash the feet of my master's servants."

42 Then Abigail quickly got up and rode on a donkey with five of her female servants following her. So she went with David's messengers and became his wife.

43 David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Both she and Abigail were his wives.

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

1 The people of Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah. "David is hiding at the hill of Hachilah near Jeshimon," they said.

2 Saul went to the desert of Ziph, taking with him 3,000 of Israel's best-trained men to search for David.

3 Saul camped by the road at the hill of Hachilah near Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. When he realized Saul had come to the desert for him,

4 David sent spies to confirm that Saul had arrived.

5 Then David went to the place where Saul had camped. David saw the place where Saul and Ner's son Abner, the commander of the army, were lying. Saul was lying in the camp, and the troops were camped around him.

6 David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai, who was Zeruiah's son and Joab's brother, "Who will go with me to Saul in the camp?" Abishai answered, "I'll go with you."

7 So David and Abishai went among [Saul's] troops that night. Saul was lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

8 Abishai said to David, "Today God has turned your enemy over to you. Please let me nail him to the ground with one stab of the spear. I won't have to do it twice!"

9 "Don't kill him!" David told Abishai. "No one has ever attacked the LORD's anointed king and remained free of guilt.

10 I solemnly swear, as the LORD lives," David added, "the LORD will strike him. Either his time will come when he'll die [naturally], or he'll go into battle and be swept away.

11 It would be unthinkable for me to attack the LORD's anointed king. But please take that spear near his head and that jar of water, and let's go."

12 David took the spear and the jar of water near Saul's head, and they left. All of them were asleep. No one saw them, knew about it, or woke up. The LORD had made them fall into a deep sleep.

13 David went over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away. (There was a wide space between them.)

14 Then David called to the troops and to Ner's son Abner. "Won't you answer, Abner?" he asked. "Who is calling the king?" Abner asked.

15 David asked Abner, "Aren't you a man? Is there anyone like you in Israel? Then why didn't you guard your master, the king? Someone came to kill His Royal Majesty.

16 What you've done isn't good. I solemnly swear, as the LORD lives, you are dead men. You didn't guard your master, the LORD's anointed king. Look at the king's spear and the jar of water that were near his head."

17 Saul recognized David's voice. "Is that your voice, my servant David?" he asked. "It is my voice, Your Royal Majesty," David answered.

18 "Why are you pursuing me?" he added. "What have I done? What crime have I committed?

19 Your Majesty, please listen to my words. If the LORD has turned you against me, let him be satisfied with an offering. But if mere mortals [have turned you against me], let them be cursed by the LORD. They have prevented me from having a share of the LORD's inheritance. 'Go and serve other gods,' they tell me.

20 Don't let my blood fall to the ground, away from the LORD's presence. The king of Israel has come to search for one flea like someone hunting a partridge in the hills."

21 "My servant David," Saul said, "I have sinned. Come back. I will not harm you again, because you valued my life today. I've acted like a fool and made a terrible mistake."

22 David responded, "Here's the king's spear. One of the young men should come over and get it.

23 The LORD will reward any person who is righteous and faithful. The LORD handed you over to me today, but I refused to attack the LORD's anointed king.

24 As I placed great value on your life today, may the LORD place great value on my life and rescue me from all trouble."

25 Then Saul said, "Blessed are you, my servant David. You will accomplish many things and certainly will succeed." So David went his way, while Saul returned home.

1 David said to himself, "One of these days Saul will sweep me away. The best thing for me to do is to make sure that I escape to Philistine territory. Then Saul will give up looking all over Israel for me, and I'll escape from him."

2 So David went with his 600 men to King Achish of Gath, Moach's son.

3 David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath. Each one had his family, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail (who had been Nabal's wife) from Carmel.

4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he didn't search for him anymore.

5 David said to Achish, "If you will permit me, let me have a place in one of the outlying towns so that I can live there. Why should I live in the royal city with you?"

6 So Achish immediately gave him Ziklag. (This is why Ziklag still belongs to the kings of Judah today.)

7 David stayed in Philistine territory for one year and four months.

8 Then David and his men went to raid the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They lived in the territory which extends from Telaim to Shur and Egypt.)

9 Whenever David attacked the territory, he left no man or woman alive. He also took sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing and returned to Achish.

10 Achish would ask, "Whom did you raid today?" And David would answer, "the Negev in Judah," or "the portion of the Negev where the descendants of Jerahmeel live," or "the portion of the Negev where the Kenites live."

11 He did not bring a single man or woman back to Gath alive. He thought, "They could tell Achish what I [really] did." This was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory.

12 And Achish believed David. Achish thought, "He has definitely made his own people in Israel despise him. He'll be my servant from now on."