The Death of Samuel

1And Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and lamented for him, and they buried him at his house in Ramah.

And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.†

David, Nabal, and Abigail

2And there was a man in Maon, and his work was in Carmel. And the man was very rich, and He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance, and the man was harsh and evil in his deeds; and he was a Calebite.

4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and ask of his welfare in my name. 6And you⁺ shall say thus: ‘To life! And to you peace, and to your house peace, and to all that is unto you, peace! 7And I have heard that shearers are unto you. Now the shepherds that are unto you were with us. We did not hurt them, nor was there missing anything from them all the days they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. And let my young men find favor in your eyes, for on a good day we come. Give, please, whatever your hand finds to your servants, and to your son David.’”

9And the young men of David came, and they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and they rested.

10And Nabal answered the servants of David, and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today there are many servants who break away, a man from the face of his master. 11And shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men whom I do not know where they are from?”

12And the young men of David turned to their way, and went back, and they came and declared to him according to all these words.

13And David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” And every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And went with David about four hundred men, and two hundred stayed with the vessels.

14And to Abigail wife of Nabal a young man, one of the young men, declared, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he reviled them. 15And the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything all the days we accompanied them when we were in the fields. 16They were a wall for us, both by night and by day, all the days we were with them pasturing the sheep. 17And now know and consider what you will do. For harm is determined against our master and against all his house. And he is too much a son of worthlessness to speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

18And Abigail hurried, and took two hundred loaves of bread, and two skins of wine, and five sheep already dressed, and five seahs of roasted grain,† and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and she put them on the donkeys. 19And she said to her servants, “Go on before me. Behold, after you⁺ I am coming.” And her husband Nabal she did not tell.

20And it came to pass as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the mountain, and behold, David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them.

21And David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that was unto this one in the wilderness, and not anything was missed of all that was unto him. And he has repaid me evil for good. 22And may God do to David,† and thus may he add, if I leave of all who are unto him by the morning light one who urinates against the wall.”

23And Abigail saw David, and she hurried and dismounted from the donkey, and she fell before the face of David on her face and she bowed herself to the earth, 24and she fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, let this iniquity be. And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. 25Let not, please, my lord set his heart to this man of worthlessness, upon Nabal;† for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. And I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

26And now my lord, as YHWH lives, and as your soul lives, since YHWH has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, let now your enemies be as Nabal and those seeking harm against my lord.

27And this blessing that your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow at the feet of my lord. 28Forgive, please, the trespass of your maidservant, for YHWH will surely make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of YHWH, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.

29And a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, and the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with YHWH your God. And the souls of your enemies He shall sling out of the midst of the hollow of the sling.

30And it shall come to pass, when YHWH has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel, 31that this to you will not be grief and offense of heart—to my lord—that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself, and YHWH shall have dealt well with my lord, and remember your maidservant.”

32And David said to Abigail, “Blessed is YHWH, God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me. 33And blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34Yet as lives YHWH, God of Israel, who has kept me back from hurting you, surely unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely would not have been left to Nabal by the morning light one who urinates against the wall.”

35And David received from her hand what she had brought to him, and he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and I have lifted up your face.”

36And Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And the heart of Nabal was glad within him, and he was very drunk; therefore she told him not a thing small to great until the morning light.

37And it was in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him and he became a stone. 38And it was in about ten days that YHWH struck Nabal, and he died.

David Marries Abigail

39And David heard that Nabal was dead, and he said, “Blessed be YHWH, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil. For the wickedness of Nabal YHWH has returned on his own head.”

And David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her to him as wife. 40And the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, “David sent us to you to take you to him as wife.”

41And she arose and bowed her face to the earth, and said, “Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

42And Abigail hurried and rose, and rode on a donkey, and five of her maidens were going at her feet, and she followed after the messengers of David and became his wife.

43And also Ahinoam David took from Jezreel, and became even both unto him for wives. 44And Saul had given Michal his daughter, wife of David, to Palti† son of Laish, who was from Gallim.