The Death of Samuel
1 Kingdoms 25, verse 1. And Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and lamented for him, and they buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Desert of Maon.
David and Abigail
1 Kingdoms 25, verse 2. Now there was a man in Maon who was very notable and whose flocks were in Carmel. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was in Carmel to shear his sheep. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 3. The man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. She was a woman of good understanding and very beautiful in appearance; but the man was harsh and wicked in his doings, like a dog. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 4. While in the desert wilderness, David heard that Nabal the Carmelite was shearing his sheep. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 5. David sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and in my name, greet him in peace. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 6. And here is what you say, ‘Peace be to you and your house and all that is yours. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 7. Behold, I now hear that they shear for you. As to your shepherds, those with us in the desert wilderness, as long as they were in Carmel we did not hinder them, nor did we demand anything from them. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 8. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever your hand finds to your son David.’” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 9. So when David's young men came, they told Nabal all these words in the name of David, and he leapt up. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 10. Then Nabal replied to David's servants and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away, each one from his master. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 11. Shall I then take my bread and my wine and my meat that I killed for my shearers of sheep, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 12. So David's young men turned back and returned. They came and told him these words. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 13. Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 14. Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the desert to bless our master, but Nabal turned away from them. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 15. But the men were very good to us, and they did not hinder us, and they did not demand anything from us as long as we accompanied them when we were in the fields. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 16. They were like a wall around us by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 17. And now consider and see what you will do, for malice has been decided against our master and against all his household. For Nabal is such a son of mischief that no one can speak to him.” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 18. Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five ephahs of roasted grain, a gomer of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 19. And she said to her servants, “Go ahead of me, and behold, I will come behind you.” But she did not tell her husband. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 20. And it came to pass that she was riding on her donkey and going down under the protection of the mountain; and look, David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 21. Now David had said, “Perhaps I was wrong to protect everything this fellow has in the desert wilderness and to command that nothing of his be taken; yet he repaid me evil for good. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 22. May God do so and more to David, if I leave even one male of all belonging to Nabal until the morning.” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 23. Now when Abigail saw David, she jumped from her donkey, fell on her face before David, and prostrated herself on the ground 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 24. about his feet and said, “O my lord, let this unrighteousness be on me! Let your handmaiden speak in your ears, and hear the words of your handmaiden. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 25. Please, let not my lord set his heart against this man of pestilence. For as his name is, so is he. His name is Nabal, and folly is with him. But I, your handmaiden, did not see the young men whom you sent. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 26. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord held you back from coming to innocent bloodshed and from sparing your hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek malice against my lord become like Nabal. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 27. And now, take this token of goodwill your handmaiden brought to my lord and give it to the servants who follow my lord. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 28. I pray you will remove the trespass of your handmaiden. For the Lord will certainly make a faithful house for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, so no evil will be found in you at any time. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 29. If a man should rise up and pursue you, to seek your life, nevertheless, the life of my lord shall be so tightly bound with the Lord God, that you will sling your enemies like a stone from a sling. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 30. And when the Lord has done for my lord all the good things He said concerning you, and He has appointed you ruler over Israel, 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 31. will this not be an abomination to my lord and an offense to my lord, to have shed innocent blood without cause, for my lord to have avenged himself? May the Lord do good to my lord, and you shall remember to do good to your handmaiden.” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 32. Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this very day! 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 33. And blessed is your conduct and blessed are you, because today you kept me from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 34. But as the Lord God of Israel lives, who kept me from hurting you, if you had not hastened and come to meet me, surely I say that by morning light not one male would have been left to Nabal.” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 35. So David received from her hand everything that she had brought him and said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your presence.” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 36. Now Abigail returned to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Thus, she decided to say not a word to him, not even one, until morning light. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 37. In the morning, when Nabal had slept off the wine, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 38. And it came to pass about ten days later that the Lord struck Nabal and he died. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 39. So when David heard, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who judged my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and who saved His servant from doing evil. For the Lord returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head.” And David sent out a message concerning Abigail, to take her as his own wife. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 40. So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel and spoke to her, saying, “David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife.” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 41. She arose and bowed her face to the earth and said, “Behold your handmaiden, a servant to wash the feet of your servants.” 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 42. And Abigail rose and mounted her donkey, and five of her maidens followed behind her as she followed after the servants of David, and she became his wife. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 43. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them were his wives. 1 Kingdoms 25, verse 44. But Saul gave Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, from Gallim.