The First Book of Samuel

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- Chapter 25 -

Soon after that, Samuel died, and all the Israelite people gathered and mourned for him. They buried his body outside his home in Ramah. Then David and his men moved to the wilderness of Paran.

David, Nabal, and Abigail

In the town of Maon there was a very rich man. This man kept his property and livestock in a town nearby that is called Carmel. He had much property and livestock and he owned three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. Carmel is where he sheared his sheep.

His name was Nabal; he was a descendant of Caleb. His wife Abigail was a wise and beautiful woman, but Nabal was very cruel and treated people very unkindly.

One day while David and his men were in the desert, someone told him that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep.

So David told ten of his men, “Go to Nabal at Carmel and greet him for me.

Then tell him this message from me: ’I wish that things may go well for you and your family and for everything that you possess.

I heard people say that you are cutting the wool from your sheep. Previously, when your shepherds were among us, we did not harm them. All the time that your shepherds were among us at Camel, we did not steal any sheep from them.

You can ask your servants if this is true, and they will tell you that it is true. We have come here at a time when you are celebrating, so I ask you to please be kind to us and give these men whatever extra food you have, for me, David, and my men to eat.’”

When David’s men arrived where Nabal was, they gave David’s message to him, and they waited for him to reply. But Nabal spoke harshly to them.

He said to them, “Who does this man, this son of Jesse, think that he is? There are many slaves who are running away from their masters at the present time, and it seems to me that he is just one of them.

I give bread and water to the men who are cutting the wool from my sheep, and I give them meat from animals that I have slaughtered. Why should I take some of those things and give them to a group of outlaws?”

Then David’s men returned and told him what Nabal had said.

When David heard this, he told his men, “We are going to kill Nabal; fasten your swords!” So he fastened on his sword, and about four hundred men fastened their swords and went with him. There were two hundred of his men who stayed with their supplies.

One of Nabal’s servants found out what David and his men were planning to do, so he went to Nabal’s wife Abigail and said to her, “David sent some messengers from the desert to greet our master Nabal, but Nabal only yelled at them.

All the time that we were in the fields close to them, those men of David were very kind to us. They did not harm us. They did not steal anything from us.

They protected us during the daytime and during the night. They were like a wall around us to protect us while we were taking care of our sheep.

So now you should think about it and decide what you can do. If you do not do something, terrible things will happen to our master and to all his family. Nabal is an extremely wicked man, so he will not listen to anyone who tries to tell him what to do.”

Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

When Abigail heard that, she very quickly gathered two hundred loaves of bread, and also got two leather bags full of wine, the meat from five sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred packs of raisins, and two hundred packs of dried figs. She put all those things on donkeys.

Then she told her servants, “Go ahead of me. I will follow you.” But she did not tell her husband what she was going to do.

Abigail rode on her donkey and came down to the place in the hills where David and his men were staying. Suddenly David and his men met her.

David had been saying to his men, “It was useless for us to protect that man and all his possessions here in this wilderness. We did not steal anything that belonged to him, but he has acted badly toward me in return for our good actions toward him.

I hope that God will strike me and kill me if he or even one male person belonging to him is still alive tomorrow morning!”

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down from her donkey and bowed before him, with her face touching the ground.

Then she prostrated herself at David’s feet and said to him, “Sir, I deserve to be punished for what my husband has done. Please listen to what I say to you.

Please do not pay attention to what this worthless man Nabal has said. His name means ‘fool,’ and he surely is a foolish man. But I, who am willing to be your servant, did not see the messengers whom you sent to him.

Yahweh has prevented you from getting revenge on anyone and killing anyone. I hope that just as surely as Yahweh lives and as surely as you live, your enemies will be cursed like Nabal is.

I have brought a gift for you and for the men who are with you.

Please forgive me if I have done anything wrong to you. Yahweh will surely reward you by allowing many of your descendants to become kings of Israel, because you are fighting the battles that Yahweh wants you to fight. And I know that throughout all your life you have not done anything wrong.

Even when those who are trying to kill you pursue you, you are safe because Yahweh your God takes care of you. You will be protected like a bundle that is safely tied up. But your enemies will disappear like stones that are hurled from a sling.

Yahweh has promised to do good things for you, and he will do what he has promised. And he will cause you to become the ruler of the Israelite people.

When that happens, do not kill any people in his household. Then you will not think that you deserve to be punished for having punished and killed innocent people. And when Yahweh enables you to become king, please do not forget to be kind to me.”

David replied to Abigail, “I praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, because he sent you to talk with me.

I hope today God may help you because you have wisely kept me from killing people today, and from paying back evil for evil.

Just as surely as Yahweh the God whom we Israelites worship is alive, he has prevented me from harming you. If you had not come quickly to talk to me, neither Nabal nor even one of Nabal’s men or boys would be still alive tomorrow morning.”

Then David accepted the gifts that Abigail had brought to him. He said to her, “I hope that things may go well for you. I have heard what you said, and I will do what you have requested.”

When Abigail returned to Nabal, he was in his house, having a big celebration like kings have. He was very drunk and feeling very happy. So Abigail did not say anything to him that night about her meeting with David.

The next morning, when he was no longer drunk, she told him everything that had happened when she talked with David. Immediately, he had a stroke and could move no longer.

About ten days later Yahweh struck him again, and he died.

David Marries Abigail

After David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “I praise Yahweh! Nabal insulted me, but Yahweh has shown that I have been right. He has prevented me from doing anything wrong. And he has punished Nabal for the wrong that he did.” Then David sent messengers to Abigail, to ask her if she would become his wife.

His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David sent us to take you to become his wife.”

Abigail bowed down with her face touching the ground. Then she told the messengers to tell David, “I am happy to become your wife. I will be your servant. And I am willing to wash the feet of your servants.”

Abigail quickly got on her donkey and went with David’s messengers. Five of her female servants went with her. When she arrived where David was, she became his wife.

David had previously married Ahinoam, a woman from Jezreel near Carmel. So both Abigail and Ahinoam were now David’s wives.

King Saul’s daughter Michal was also David’s wife, but Saul had given her to Laish’s son Paltiel, who was in the town of Gallim.

Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

David, Nabal, and Abigail

There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.

David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have!

Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal all those words in the name of David, and waited.

Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.

Shall I then take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don’t know where they come from?”

So David’s young men turned on their way and went back, and came and told him all these words.

David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!” Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed by the baggage.

But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; and he insulted them.

But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields.

They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, for he is such a worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs

(a)

of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal.

As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.

God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”(b)

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground.

She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant.

Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal

(c)

is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, since the LORD has withheld you from blood guiltiness and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek evil to my lord be as Nabal.

Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the LORD’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days.

Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies as from a sling’s pocket.

It will come to pass, when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel,

that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

David said to Abigail, “Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me!

Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

For indeed, as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”(d)

So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.”

Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light.

In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, so that he died.

David Marries Abigail

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. The LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife.

When David’s servants had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.”

She arose and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

Abigail hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives.

Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

Footnotes

(a)25:18 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks

(b)25:22 or, male.

(d)25:34 or, one male.