1 A1 Sam 28:3Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and BNum 20:29; Deut 34:8mourned for him, and C2 Kin 21:18; 2 Chr 33:20buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the DGen 21:21; Num 10:12; 13:3wilderness of Paran.

2 Now there was a man in A1 Sam 23:24Maon whose business was in BJosh 15:55Carmel; and the man was very 1Lit greatrich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while CGen 38:13; 2 Sam 13:23he was shearing his sheep in Carmel 3 (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his AProv 31:10wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was 1Lit of good understandingintelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was BJosh 15:13; 1 Sam 30:14a Calebite), 4 that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, 1Lit go intovisit Nabal and greet him in my name; 6 and thus you shall say, ‘1Lit To lifeHave a long life, A1 Chr 12:18; Ps 122:7; Luke 10:5peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7  ‘Now I have heard A2 Sam 13:23, 24that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, B1 Sam 25:15, 21nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel. 8  ‘Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on ANeh 8:10-12; Esth 9:19, 22a 1Lit goodfestive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name; then they waited. 10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “AJudg 9:28Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. 11  “Shall I then AJudg 8:6, 15take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men 1Lit from where they arewhose origin I do not know?” 12 So David’s young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about A1 Sam 23:13four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred B1 Sam 30:24stayed with the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to 1Lit blessA1 Sam 13:10; 15:13greet our master, and he scorned them. 15  “Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not A1 Sam 25:7, 21insulted, nor did we miss anything 1Lit all the daysas long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. 16  “AEx 14:22; Job 1:10They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. 17  “Now therefore, know and 1Lit seeconsider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a 2Lit son of Belialworthless man that no one can speak to him.”

18 Then Abigail hurried and A2 Sam 16:1; 1 Chr 12:40took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men, “AGen 32:16, 20Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has APs 109:5; Prov 17:13returned me evil for good. 22  “A1 Sam 3:17; 20:13May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, B1 Kin 14:10if by morning I leave as much as one 1Lit who urinates against the wallmale of any who belong to him.”

23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David A1 Sam 20:41and bowed herself to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me 1Lit even mealone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak 2Lit in your earsto you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. 25  “Please do not let my lord 1Lit set his heart topay attention to this 2Lit man of Belialworthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. 3I.e. FoolNabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

26 “Now therefore, my lord, as the Loʀᴅ lives, and as your soul lives, since the Loʀᴅ has restrained you from 1Lit coming in with bloodshedding blood, and AHeb 10:30from 2Lit savingavenging yourself by your own hand, now then B2 Sam 18:32let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. 27  “Now let AGen 33:11; 1 Sam 30:26this 1Lit blessinggift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who 2Lit walk at the feet ofaccompany my lord. 28  “Please forgive A1 Sam 25:24the transgression of your maidservant; for B1 Sam 22:14; 2 Sam 7:11, 16the Loʀᴅ will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is C1 Sam 18:17fighting the battles of the Loʀᴅ, and D1 Sam 24:11; Ps 7:3evil will not be found in you all your days. 29  “Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your 1Lit soullife, then the 1Lit soullife of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Loʀᴅ your God; but the 1Lit soullives of your enemies AJer 10:18He will sling out 2Lit in the midstas from the hollow of a sling. 30  “And when the Loʀᴅ does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and A1 Sam 13:14appoints you ruler over Israel, 31 this will not 1Lit become staggering to you or a stumbling of the heartcause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having 2Lit savedavenged himself. AGen 40:14; 1 Sam 25:30When the Loʀᴅ deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

32 Then David said to Abigail, “AEx 18:10; 1 Kin 1:48; Ps 41:13; 72:18; 106:48; Luke 1:68Blessed be the Loʀᴅ God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, 33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, A1 Sam 25:26who have kept me this day from 1Lit coming in with bloodbloodshed and from 2Lit savingavenging myself by my own hand. 34  “Nevertheless, as the Loʀᴅ God of Israel lives, A1 Sam 25:26who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one 1Lit who urinates against the wallmale.” 35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “A1 Sam 20:42; 2 Kin 5:19Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to 1Lit your voiceyou and 2Lit lifted up your faceBGen 19:21granted your request.”

36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding A2 Sam 13:28a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, BProv 20:1; Is 5:11; Hos 4:11for he was very drunk; so C1 Sam 25:19she did not tell him anything 1Lit small or largeat all until the morning light. 37 But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone. 38 About ten days later, A1 Sam 26:10; 2 Sam 6:7; Ps 104:29the Loʀᴅ struck Nabal and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Loʀᴅ, who has A1 Sam 24:15; Prov 22:23pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and B1 Sam 25:26, 34has kept back His servant from evil. The Loʀᴅ has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent 1Lit and spokeCSong 8:8a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you as his wife.” 41 She arose A1 Sam 25:23and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is a maid BMark 1:7to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Then AGen 24:61-67Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who 1Lit walked at her feetattended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

43 David had also taken Ahinoam of AJosh 15:56Jezreel, and B1 Sam 27:3; 30:5they both became his wives.

44 Now Saul had given A1 Sam 18:27; 2 Sam 3:14Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from BIs 10:30Gallim.