1 Samuel 25

And Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and beat their breasts for him and buried him in his house in Armathaim. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Maan.

And there was a man in Maan, and his flocks were in Carmel. And the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it happened while he was shearing his flock in Carmel.

And the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigaia. And his wife was good in understanding and very beautiful in appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings, and the man was like a dog.

And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal the Carmelite was shearing his flock.

And David sent ten young men, and said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name with peace.

And you shall say thus: May you live for years to come! And may you be in health, and your house, and all that is yours in health.

And now, behold, I have heard that your shepherds are now shearing for you. They were with us in the wilderness, and we did not hinder them, nor did we command them anything all the days they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Let my young men find favour in your eyes, for we have come on a good day. Give, I pray, whatever your hand may find, to your son David.

And the young men came and spoke these words to Nabal, according to all these words, in the name of David; and he leapt up.

And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Iessai? Nowadays there are many servants who run away, each from before his master.

Shall I take my bread and my wine and my meat that I have slaughtered for those who shear my sheep, and give it to men whom I do not know where they are from?

And David's young men turned back to their way, and returned and came and reported to David according to these words.

And David said to his men, Let each gird on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, and two hundred stayed with the baggage.

And one of the young men told Abigaia, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our master, but he turned away from them.

But the men were very good to us; they did not hinder us, nor command us anything all the days we were with them, and when we were in the field.

They were as a wall around us both by night and by day, all the days we were with them shepherding the flock.

And now know and see what you will do; for evil is determined against our master and against his house; and he is a son of pestilence, and no one can speak to him.

And Abigaia hurried and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five oiphi of parched grain, and one gomor of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dried fruit, and loaded them on the donkeys.

And she said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you. But she did not tell her husband.

And it happened, as she rode on the donkey and came down under the cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she met them.

And David had said, Surely in vain I have guarded all that was his in the wilderness, and we commanded nothing to be taken from all that was his; and he has repaid me evil for good.

May God do so to David, and more also, if I leave until morning, of all that belongs to Nabal, one that urinates against a wall.

And when Abigaia saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey, and fell before David on her face and did obeisance to him to the ground.

At his feet she said, Upon me, my lord, be the iniquity. Let your servant speak, I pray, in your ears, and hear the word of your servant.

Let not my lord set his heart against this man of pestilence; for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your servant, did not see the young men whom you sent.

And now, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has kept you from coming into innocent blood and from saving yourself by your own hand, now may your enemies, and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.

And now take this blessing which your servant has brought to my lord, and give it to the young men who attend my lord.

Forgive, I pray, the transgression of your servant; for the Lord will surely make for my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord; and no evil shall ever be found in you.

And though a man shall rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, yet the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord God; but the life of your enemies you shall sling out from the midst of the sling.

And it shall be, when the Lord does for my lord all the good things he has spoken concerning you, and appoints you as leader over Israel,

then this shall not be to you an abomination and a stumbling block to my lord, to have shed innocent blood without cause, and to have saved my lord's own hand for himself. And when the Lord does good to my lord, then remember your servant, to do good to her.

And David said to Abigaia, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me.

And blessed be your manner, and blessed are you who have kept me back today in this from coming into bloodshed and from saving myself by my own hand.

Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has hindered me today from doing you harm—for unless you had hurried and come to meet me, then I said, Surely there shall not be left to Nabal until the light of the morning one that urinates against a wall.

And David took from her hand all that she had brought him, and said to her, Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have accepted your person.

And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he had a banquet in his house like a king's banquet, and Nabal's heart was merry within him, and he was exceedingly drunk. And she did not tell him a word, small or great, until the light of the morning.

And it came to pass in the morning, when Nabal had sobered up from the wine, that his wife told him these words, and his heart died within him, and he becomes like a stone.

And it came to pass after about ten days, that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

And David heard and said, Blessed be the Lord, who has judged the case of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and has preserved his servant from the hand of evils; and the Lord has returned Nabal's wickedness upon his own head. And David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife.

And David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel and spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.

And she arose and did obeisance to the ground upon her face, and said, Behold, your handmaid is for a servant-girl to wash the feet of your servants.

And Abigail arose and mounted upon the donkey, and five maidens followed her; and she went after David's servants, and she becomes his wife.

And David took Achinaam from Iezrael, and both of them were wives to him.

And Saul had given Melchol his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti son of Lais, the one from Romma.