1 Samuel 25

₁When Samuel died, all the people of Israel came together and they mourned for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David went down to the Paran Desert. ₂There was a man in the town of Maon who was very rich. He had 3 000 sheep and 1 000 goats near the town of Carmel. He was shearing the wool and hair of his sheep and goats at Carmel. ₃The man's name was Nabal and his wife was Abigail. She was beautiful and wise, but he was stubborn and bad. He was from the Caleb tribe. ₄When he was in the desert, they told David that Nabal was taking his sheep and goats to shear them. ₅David sent 10 young men and he told them: ‘You must go to Carmel and when you get to Nabal, you must say that I have sent you to find out if he is well. ₆You must tell him I said: “I pray that you will be healthy and that everything will be well with you and your family and everything you have. ₇And now they have told me that you are shearing your sheep. Your shepherds were with us. We were good to them. Not one of their sheep was missing while we were with them at Carmel. ₈You can ask your men, and they will tell you that it is true. Please be friendly to my men, because today is a day for a feast. Please give some of the food that you have to them and to me, David.” ’

₉David's men told Nabal everything that David had said to them and they waited. ₁₀Nabal answered and said to David's men: ‘Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? There are many slaves who have run away from their owners. ₁₁I have prepared my bread and my water and my meat for the people who shear my sheep. Why must I take their food and give it to you? I do not know where you come from.’

₁₂David's men then turned_around and they came back and told David everything that Nabal had said. ₁₃Then David told his men: ‘Get your swords.’

They all got their swords and tied them to their belts. David did the same. There were about 400 men who went with David and 200 men stayed at their camp.

₁₄But one of Nabal's men went to Abigail and asked her: ‘Do you know that David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master Nabal? Our master has said bad things to them. ₁₅But David's men were very good to us. While we were with them in the field, not one of our sheep was lost. ₁₆They protected us in the day and night when we were with them looking after our sheep. ₁₇You must know this and you must think what you can do now because there is going to be trouble for our master and all the people in his family. Our master is a bad man. It does not help to talk to him.’

₁₈Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread and 2 skin-bags of wine and 5 sheep that were killed and 5 seahs of fried wheat and 100 cakes of raisins and 200 cakes of dried figs. She put them all on donkeys ₁₉and she told her servants: ‘You must go before me, and I will come later.’ She did not tell her husband Nabal anything. ₂₀She was riding on a donkey on the other side of the mountain when she met David and his men who came to her. ₂₁David said to himself: ‘I have looked after everything of this man in the desert, but it did not help me. Not one of his sheep was lost. I have been good to him but he did not want to help me and he said bad things to my men. ₂₂I will kill him. God can punish me and keep on punishing me if I don't kill them all, Nabal and all the men and sons in his family.’

₂₃When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed low before David with her face to the ground. ₂₄She lay at David's feet and said: ‘Sir, it is my fault. I want to talk to you. Please listen to me. ₂₅Sir, please do not think about the words that this bad man, Nabal, said. He is a fool because his name means “fool”, and that is what he is. I did not see your men whom you sent. ₂₆But now, sir, as sure as the Lord lives and as sure as you live, it is the Lord who is stopping you so that you do not kill innocent people when you want to punish your enemy. I pray that your enemies will be like Nabal. I pray that your enemies and anyone who wants to fight against you will suffer like Nabal. ₂₇And now I bring this gift of food to you. You can give it to the men who are with you. ₂₈Please forgive me if I have done something wrong. The Lord will always be with you and your family because you fight the wars of the Lord. You must not do anything wrong for as long as you live. ₂₉If someone chases you and wants to kill you, the Lord your God will protect you. But he will throw your enemies away as a man throws a stone with a sling. ₃₀The Lord will be good to you as He said He will be. He will make you king_of_Israel. ₃₁Then you will not feel guilty, because you will not have killed innocent people and punished people today. And when God has been good to you, then you must please remember me.’

₃₂David said to Abigail: ‘I praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me. ₃₃And I praise you who are so wise. You have stopped me and now I have not punished people and killed innocent people today. ₃₄Because, as sure as the Lord lives, the God of Israel stopped me from hurting you, and if you had not come quickly to meet me, then Nabal and all the men and boys in his family would have been dead before tomorrow morning. The Lord stopped me and I did not do anything wrong.’

₃₅David took the food from Abigail and he said to her: ‘Go home, and do not worry. I heard what you said and I will do what you have asked.’

₃₆When Abigail came to Nabal, he was busy having a feast in his home. It was a big feast like the feast of a king. He felt happy and he had become very drunk. Abigail did not tell Nabal. She said nothing until early the next morning. ₃₇The next morning, when Nabal was not drunk anymore, his wife told him what had happened. Nabal had a heart-attack, and his heart became like a stone. ₃₈About 10 days later the Lord caused Nabal to die.

₃₉When they told David that Nabal was dead, he said: ‘I praise the Lord who punished Nabal because he said bad things to me. The Lord stopped me and I did not do a bad thing. He has punished Nabal because of the wrong things he has done.’

David sent men to Abigail asking her to marry him. ₄₀David's men went to Abigail in Carmel and they said to her: ‘David has sent us to you. We must ask you if you want to marry him.’ ₄₁She bowed with her face to the ground and she said: ‘Here I am. I will serve David and I will wash his men's feet.’

₄₂Abigail quickly got on a donkey and her 5 servants walked with her. She went with the messengers of David and she married David. ₄₃David was already married to Ahinoam of Jezreel and he now had 2 wives. ₄₄David had also been married to Saul's daughter, Michal, but Saul gave Michal to Palti, the son of Laish, from the town of Gallim.