1And Samuel died ; and all Israel gathered themselves together , and lamented him , and buried him in his house at Ramah . And David arose , and went down to the wilderness of Paran . 2And there was a man in Maon , whose possessions were in Carmel ; and the man was very great , and he had three thousand sheep , and a thousand goats : and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel . 3Now the name of the man was Nabal ; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding , and of a beautiful countenance : but the man was churlish and evil in his doings ; and he was of the house of Caleb. 4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep . 5And David sent ten young men , and David said unto the young men , Get you up to Carmel , and go to Nabal , and greet him in my name : 6and thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity , Peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy house , and peace be unto all that thou hast. 7And now I have heard that thou hast shearers : thy shepherds have now been with us , and we did them no hurt , neither was there aught missing unto them , all the while they were in Carmel . 8Ask thy young men , and they will tell thee : wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes ; for we come in a good day : give , I pray thee , whatsoever cometh to thy hand , unto thy servants , and to thy son David . 9And when David ’s young men came , they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David , and ceased . 10And Nabal answered David ’s servants , and said , Who is David ? and who is the son of Jesse ? there are many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master. 11Shall I then take my bread , and my water , and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers , and give it unto men of whom I know not whence they are ? 12So David ’s young men turned on their way , and went back , and came and told him according to all these words . 13And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword . And they girded on every man his sword ; and David also girded on his sword : and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the baggage .
Abigail's Intervention
14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal ’s wife, saying, Behold , David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed at them . 15But the men were very good unto us , and we were not hurt , neither missed we anything , as long as we went with them , when we were in the fields : 16they were a wall unto us both by night and by day , all the while we were with them keeping the sheep . 17Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do ; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house : for he is such a worthless fellow , that one cannot speak to him . 18Then Abigail made haste , and took two hundred loaves , and two bottles of wine , and five sheep ready dressed , and five measures of parched grain , and a hundred clusters of raisins , and two hundred cakes of figs , and laid them on asses . 19And she said unto her young men , Go on before me ; behold , I come after you . But she told not her husband Nabal . 20And it was so , as she rode on her ass , and came down by the covert of the mountain , that , behold , David and his men came down toward her ; and she met them . 21Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness , so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him : and he hath returned me evil for good . 22God do so unto the enemies of David , and more also , if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one man-child. 23And when Abigail saw David , she hasted , and alighted from her ass , and fell before David on her face , and bowed herself to the ground . 24And she fell at his feet , and said , Upon me , my lord, upon me be the iniquity ; and let thy handmaid, I pray thee , speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. 25Let not my lord, I pray thee , regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal ; for as his name is , so is he ; Nabal is his name , and folly is with him : but I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send . 26Now therefore , my lord , as Jehovah liveth , and as thy soul liveth , seeing Jehovah hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness , and from avenging thyself with thine own hand , now therefore let thine enemies , and them that seek evil to my lord , be as Nabal . 27And now this present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28Forgive , I pray thee , the trespass of thy handmaid: for Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house , because my lord fighteth the battles of Jehovah ; and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days . 29And though men be risen up to pursue thee , and to seek thy soul , yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Jehovah thy God ; and the souls of thine enemies , them shall he sling out , as from the hollow of a sling . 30And it shall come to pass , when Jehovah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee , and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel , 31that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord , either that thou hast shed blood without cause , or that my lord hath avenged himself . And when Jehovah shall have dealt well with my lord , then remember thy handmaid.
Nabal's Fate and Abigail's Wisdom
32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah , the God of Israel , who sent thee this day to meet me : 33and blessed be thy discretion , and blessed be thou , that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness , and from avenging myself with mine own hand . 34For in very deed , as Jehovah , the God of Israel , liveth , who hath withholden me from hurting thee , except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me , surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. 35So David received of her hand that which she had brought him : and he said unto her , Go up in peace to thy house ; see , I have hearkened to thy voice , and have accepted thy person . 36And Abigail came to Nabal ; and , behold , he held a feast in his house , like the feast of a king ; and Nabal ’s heart was merry within him , for he was very drunken : wherefore she told him nothing , less or more , until the morning light. 37And it came to pass in the morning , when the wine was gone out of Nabal , that his wife told him these things , and his heart died within him , and he became as a stone. 38And it came to pass about ten days after , that Jehovah smote Nabal , so that he died . 39And when David heard that Nabal was dead , he said , Blessed be Jehovah , that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal , and hath kept back his servant from evil : and the evil-doing of Nabal hath Jehovah returned upon his own head . And David sent and spake concerning Abigail, to take her to him to wife . 40And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel , they spake unto her , saying , David hath sent us unto thee , to take thee to him to wife . 41And she arose , and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold , thy handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42And Abigail hasted , and arose , and rode upon an ass , with five damsels of hers that followed her ; and she went after the messengers of David , and became his wife. 43David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel ; and they became both of them his wives. 44Now Saul had given Michal his daughter , David ’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish , who was of Gallim .