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The First Book of Samuel 25

25 And Samuel died, and all Israel gathered and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house in the Ramah. And David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2 Now a man was in Maon and his work was in the Carmel, and the man was very great. And for him were 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And he was shearing his sheep in the Carmel. 3 And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. Now the woman was good of insight and beautiful of form. But the man was harsh and evil of deeds, and he was a Calebite. 4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 And David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and ask him in my name with respect to well-being. 6 And you shall say thus, ‘To life! And peace to you and peace to your house and peace to all that is for you. 7 And now, I have heard that those who shear belong to you. Now the shepherds who belong to you have been with us. We have not harmed them and not anything of them was missing all the days of their being in the Carmel. 8 Ask your young men and they will tell you. And let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a good day. Please give whatever your hand finds to your servants and to your son, to David.’ ”

9 And the young men of David came, and they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David. And they rested. 10 And Nabal answered the servants of David. And he said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today there are many servants who are breaking away, a man from the face of his master. 11 And should I take my bread and my water and my slaughtered thing that I have slaughtered for my ones who shear, and give it to men whom I do not know where they are from?” 12 And the young men of David turned to their way. And they returned and came and told him according to all these words. 13 And David said to his men, “Strap on a man his sword.” And they strapped on, a man his sword. And David also strapped on his sword. And about 400 men went up behind David, and 200 stayed with the things.

14 But one young man from the young men told Abigail the wife of Nabal, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to bless our master, and he screamed at them. 15 But the men were very good to us. And we were not harmed and did not miss anything all the days of our going about with them when we were in the field. 16 They were a wall for us both night and day, all the days of our being with them tending the sheep. 17 And now know and see what you should do, for evil is determined against our master and against all his house. And he is a son of worthlessness from speaking to him.”

18 And Abigail hurried and took 200 bread loaves and two skins of wine and five prepared sheep and five seah of roasted grain and 100 bunches of raisins and 200 cakes of figs. And she put them on the donkeys. 19 And she said to her young men, “Pass over before my face. Behold, I will come behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 And she was riding on the donkey and going down in the cover of the mountain, and behold, David and his men were coming down to meet her! And she encountered them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely for a lie have I kept all that is for this one in the wilderness, and not anyhing was missed from all that is for him. And he has returned to me evil in place of good. 22 Thus may God do to the enemies of David and thus may he add, if I leave over until the morning any who are for him who urinate against the wall!”

23 And Abigail saw David, and she hurried and got down from on the donkey. And fell before the face of David on her face and bowed down to the ground. 24 And she fell on his feet and said, “On me myself, my master, be the iniquity. Please let your female servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your female servant. 25 Please do not let my master set his heart against this man of worthlessness, against Nabal, for as his name is, so he is. Nabal is his name, and senselessness is with him. But I your female servant did not see the young men of my master, whom you sent. 26 And now, my master, as Yahweh is alive, and as your spirit is alive, it is Yahweh who has witheld you from entering into bloodshed and your hand saving for yourself. And now may your enemies and the ones who seek evil against my master be like Nabal. 27 And now let this blessing that your female servant has brought to my master be given to the young men, the ones going about at the feet of my master. 28 Please lift up the transgression of your female servant! For Yahweh will certainly make my master a sure house, because my master is fighting the battles of Yahweh. And evil will not be found in you from your days. 29 If a man rises up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my master will be bound in the bundle of the living ones by Yahweh your God. And he will sling away the life of your enemies in the midst of the palm of the sling. 30 And it will happen that when Yahweh does for my master according to all the good that he spoke concerning you, and has appointed you for a ruler over Israel, 31 then this will not become an obstacle for you or a stumbling block of heart for my master, or as the pouring out of blood without cause, or as my master saving himself. And Yahweh will do good for my master, and you will remember your female servant.”

32 And David said to Abigail, “May Yahweh, the God of Israel, be blessed, who sent you this day to meet me. 33 And blessed be your discernment and blessed be you, who have witheld me this day from entering into bloodshed and my hand saving for myself! 34 But indeed, as Yahweh is alive, the God of Israel is he who has witheld me from doing evil to you. For if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left over for Nabal until the light of the morning one who urinates against a wall.” 35 And David took from her hand what she had brought to him. And to her he said, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have lifted up your face.”

36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, for him was a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And the heart of Nabal was good with him and he was drunk to abundance. And she did not tell him a thing small or great until the light of the morning. 37 And it happened in the morning, when the wine had gone out from Nabal, that his wife told him these things. And his heart died in his inner part and he became a stone. 38 And it was about ten days then Yahweh struck Nabal and he died.

39 And David heard that Nabal had died, and he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has argued the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and has witheld his servant from evil. And Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his head.” And David sent and spoke with Abigail, to take her for himself for a wife. 40 And the servants of David came to Abigail at the Carmel. And they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you for him for a wife.” 41 And she rose and bowed down, nostrils to the earth, and she said, “Behold, your female servant is as a slave woman for washing the feet of the servants of my master.” 42 And Abigail hurried and rose and rode on the donkey, and five of her servant girls were going to her feet. And she went behind the messengers of David and became a wife for him. 43 And David took Ahinoam from Jezreel. And the two of them both became wives for him.

44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, the wife of David, to Paltiel the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

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