While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health(A) to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!(B)

“‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat(C) them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever(D) you can find for them.’”

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David heard in the wilderness that Nabal (A)was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him: (B)‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, (C)and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come (D)on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

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that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel and [a]visit Nabal, and greet him in my name; and this is what you shall say: ‘[b]Have a long life, (A)peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! Now then, I have heard (B)that you have shearers. Now, your shepherds have been with us; we have not harmed them, (C)nor has anything of theirs gone missing all the days they were in Carmel. Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on (D)a [c]festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 25:5 Lit come to
  2. 1 Samuel 25:6 Lit To life
  3. 1 Samuel 25:8 Lit good

While in the wilderness, David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten servants, telling them, “Go up to Carmel. When you get to Nabal, greet him for me. Say this to him: ‘Peace to you,[a] your household, and all that is yours! I’ve heard that you are now shearing sheep. As you know, your shepherds were with us in the wilderness.[b] We didn’t mistreat them. Moreover, the whole time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs went missing. Ask your servants; they will tell you the same. So please receive these young men favorably, because we’ve come on a special day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 25:6 Heb uncertain
  2. 1 Samuel 25:7 LXX, Syr; MT lacks in the wilderness.

One day, Nabal was in Carmel where his servants were cutting the wool from his sheep. David was in the desert when he heard about it. 5-6 So he sent ten men to Carmel with this message for Nabal:

I hope that you and your family are healthy and that all is going well for you. I've heard that you are cutting the wool from your sheep.

When your shepherds were with us in Carmel, we didn't harm them, and nothing was ever stolen from them. Ask your shepherds, and they'll tell you the same thing.

My servants are your servants, and you are like a father to me. This is a day for celebrating,[a] so please be kind and share some of your food with us.

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Footnotes

  1. 25.8 celebrating: Cutting the wool from the sheep was a time for celebrating as well as for working.

14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings,(A) but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat(B) us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.(C) 16 Night and day they were a wall(D) around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.

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14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, (A)and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. 16 They were (B)a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

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14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to [a](A)greet our master, and he spoke to them in anger. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not (B)harmed, nor did anything go missing [b]as long as we went with them, while we were in the fields. 16 (C)They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 25:14 Lit bless
  2. 1 Samuel 25:15 Lit all the days

14 One of Nabal’s servants told his wife Abigail, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he just yelled at them. 15 But the men were very good to us and didn’t mistreat us. Nothing of ours went missing the whole time we were out with them in the fields. 16 In fact, the whole time we were with them, watching our sheep, they were a protective wall around us both night and day.

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14-16 Meanwhile, one of Nabal's servants told Abigail:

David's men were often nearby while we were taking care of the sheep in the fields. They were very good to us, they never hurt us, and nothing was ever stolen from us while they were nearby. With them around day or night, we were as safe as we would have been inside a walled city.

David sent some messengers from the desert to wish our master well, but he shouted insults at them.

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