1 Samuel 25

The Death of Samuelⓘ

Samuel dies; Nabal and Abigail introduced¹When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.

Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.^a

David, Nabal, and Abigailⓘ

²Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. ³His name was Nabal, and his wifeʼs name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

David asks Nabal for provisions⁴While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. ⁵So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name ⁶and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and to your house and to all that belongs to you. ⁷Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel. ⁸Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.’”

Nabal insults David; David arms his men⁹When Davidʼs young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.

¹⁰But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters. ¹¹Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”

¹²So Davidʼs men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.

¹³And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men strapped on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

A servant warns Abigail¹⁴Meanwhile, one of Nabalʼs young men informed Nabalʼs wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screaed at them. ¹⁵Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them. ¹⁶They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. ¹⁷Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

Abigail Intercedes for Nabalⓘ

Abigail sets out with gifts¹⁸Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain,^b a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys ¹⁹and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

²¹Now David had just said “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good. ²²May God punish David,^c and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”

Abigail pleads with David²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him. ²⁴She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant. ²⁵My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal,^d for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lordʼs young men whom you sent.

²⁶Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since the Lordhas held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

²⁷Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you. ²⁸Please forgive your servantʼs offense, for the Lord will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the Lordʼs battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

²⁹And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the Lord your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.^e

³⁰When the Lord has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel, ³¹then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.”

David blesses God and accepts her gift³²Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day! ³³Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

³⁵Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

Nabal's collapse and death³⁶When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

³⁷In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone. ³⁸About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead.

David Marries Abigailⓘ

David marries Abigail³⁹On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the Lord has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.”

Then David sent word to Abigail, asking for her to become his wife. ⁴⁰When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”

⁴¹She arose, then bowed facedown and said, “Here is your maidservant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lordʼs servants.”

⁴²So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed Davidʼs messengers and became his wife.

⁴³David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives. ⁴⁴But Saul had given his daughter Michal, Davidʼs wife, to Palti^f son of Laish, who was from Gallim.