1SA-25:1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered
together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah.
And
David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
1SA-25:2 And [there was] a man in Maon, whose possessions
[were] in
Carmel; and the man [was] very great, and he had three thousand
sheep,
and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
1SA-25:3 Now the name of the man [was] Nabal; and the name of
his
wife Abigail: and [she was] a woman of good understanding, and
of a
beautiful countenance: but the man [was] churlish and evil in his
doings; and he [was] of the house of Caleb.
1SA-25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear
his
sheep.
1SA-25:5 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:
1SA-25:6 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.
1SA-25:7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy
shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there
ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
1SA-25:8 Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore
let
the young men find favour 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.
1SA-25:9 And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal
according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
1SA-25:10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who
[is]
David? and who [is] the son of Jesse? there be many servants now
a
days that break away every man from his master.
1SA-25:11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my
flesh that
I have killed for my shearers, and give [it] unto men, whom I
know not
whence they [be]?
1SA-25:12 So David's young men turned their way, and went again,
and
came and told him all those sayings.
1SA-25:13 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 abode by the stuff.
1SA-25:14 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 on them.
1SA-25:15 But the men [were] very good unto us, and we were not
hurt,
neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with
them,
when we were in the fields:
1SA-25:16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all
the
while we were with them keeping the sheep.
1SA-25:17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do;
for evil
is determined against our master, and against all his household:
for
he [is such] a son of Belial, that [a man] cannot speak to him.
1SA-25:18 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 an hundred clusters of raisins, and two
hundred
cakes of figs, and laid [them] on asses.
1SA-25:19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before me;
behold, I
come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
1SA-25:20 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
against her; and she met them.
1SA-25:21 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.
1SA-25:22 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
pisseth against the wall.
1SA-25:23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted
off the
ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the
ground,
1SA-25:24 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.
1SA-25:25 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.
1SA-25:26 Now therefore, my lord, [as] the LORD liveth, and
[as] thy
soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to
[shed] blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now
let
thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
1SA-25:27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath
brought
unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that
follow my
lord.
1SA-25:28 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.
1SA-25:29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy
soul:
but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life
with the
LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he
sling out,
[as out] of the middle of a sling.
1SA-25:30 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have
done to
my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning
thee,
and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
1SA-25:31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of
heart
unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or
that my
lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt
well
with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
1SA-25:32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed [be] the LORD God
of
Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
1SA-25:33 And blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou,
which
hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood, and from
avenging
myself with mine own hand.
1SA-25:34 For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth,
which
hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted
and come
to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the
morning
light any that pisseth against the wall.
1SA-25:35 So David received of 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.
1SA-25:36 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: wherefore she told him
nothing,
less or more, until the morning light.
1SA-25:37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was
gone
out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his
heart
died within him, and he became [as] a stone.
1SA-25:38 And it came to pass about ten days [after], that the
LORD
smote Nabal, that he died.
1SA-25:39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said,
Blessed
[be] the LORD, that 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 to wife.
1SA-25:40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to
Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to
take
thee to him to wife.
1SA-25:41 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.
1SA-25:42 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass,
with
five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the
messengers of David, and became his wife.
1SA-25:43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were
also both
of them his wives.
1SA-25:44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife,
to
Phalti the son of Laish, which [was] of Gallim.
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