1 Samuel 25-27

New Century Version

Nabal Insults David

25 Now Samuel died, and all the Israelites met and had a time of sadness for him. Then they buried him at his home in Ramah.

David moved to the Desert of Maon.^{[a] 2} A man in Maon who had land at Carmel was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was cutting the wool off his sheep at Carmel. ³ His name was Nabal, and he was a descendant of Caleb. His wife was named Abigail. She was wise and beautiful, but Nabal was cruel and mean.

⁴ While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep. ⁵ So he sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Nabal at Carmel, and greet him for me. ⁶ Say to Nabal, ‘May you and your family and all who belong to you have good health! ⁷ I have heard that you are cutting the wool from your sheep. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harm them. All the time your shepherds were at Carmel, we stole nothing from them. ⁸ Ask your servants, and they will tell you. We come at a happy time, so be kind to my young men. Please give anything you can find for them and for your son David.’”

⁹ When David’s men arrived, they gave the message to Nabal, but Nabal insulted them. ¹⁰ He answered them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many slaves are running away from their masters today! ¹¹ I have bread and water, and I have meat that I killed for my servants who cut the wool. But I won’t give it to men I don’t know.”

¹² David’s men went back and told him all Nabal had said. ¹³ Then David said to them, “Put on your swords!” So they put on their swords, and David put on his also. About four hundred men went with David, but two hundred men stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴ One of Nabal’s servants said to Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but Nabal insulted them. ¹⁵ These men were very good to us. They did not harm us. They stole nothing from us during all the time we were out in the field with them. ¹⁶ Night and day they protected us. They were like a wall around us while we were with them caring for the sheep. ¹⁷ Now think about it, and decide what you can do. Terrible trouble is coming to our master and all his family. Nabal is such a wicked man that no one can even talk to him.”

¹⁸ Abigail hurried. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two leather bags full of wine, five cooked sheep, a bushel of cooked grain, a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs and put all these on donkeys. ¹⁹ Then she told her servants, “Go on. I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband.

²⁰ Abigail rode her donkey and came down toward the mountain hideout. There she met David and his men coming down toward her.

²¹ David had just said, “It’s been useless! I watched over Nabal’s property in the desert. I made sure none of his sheep was missing. I did good to him, but he has paid me back with evil. ²² May God punish my enemies even more. I will not leave one of Nabal’s men alive until morning.”

²³ When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed facedown on the ground before him. ²⁴ She fell at David’s feet and said, “My master, let the blame be on me! Please let me talk to you. Listen to what I say. ²⁵ My master, don’t pay attention to this worthless man Nabal. He is like his name. His name means ‘fool,’ and he is truly a fool. But I, your servant, didn’t see the men you sent. ²⁶ The Lord has kept you from killing and punishing anyone. As surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, may your enemies become like Nabal! ²⁷ I have brought a gift to you for the men who follow you. ²⁸ Please forgive my wrong. The Lord will certainly let your family have many kings, because you fight his battles. As long as you live, may you do nothing bad. ²⁹ Someone might chase you to kill you, but the Lord your God will keep you alive. He will throw away your enemies’ lives as he would throw a stone from a sling. ³⁰ The Lord will keep all his promises of good things for you. He will make you leader over Israel. ³¹ Then you won’t feel guilty or troubled because you killed innocent people and punished them. Please remember me when the Lord brings you success.”

³² David answered Abigail, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me. ³³ May you be blessed for your wisdom. You have kept me from killing or punishing people today. ³⁴ As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, he has kept me from hurting you. If you hadn’t come quickly to meet me, not one of Nabal’s men would have lived until morning.”

³⁵ Then David accepted Abigail’s gifts. He told her, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words, and I will do what you have asked.”

Nabal’s Death

³⁶ When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was in the house, eating like a king. He was very drunk and in a good mood. So she told him nothing until the next morning. ³⁷ In the morning when he was not drunk, his wife told him everything. His heart stopped, and he became like stone. ³⁸ About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord! Nabal insulted me, but the Lord has supported me! He has kept me from doing wrong. The Lord has punished Nabal for his wrong.”

Then David sent a message to Abigail, asking her to be his wife. ⁴⁰ His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David sent us to take you so you can become his wife.”

⁴¹ Abigail bowed facedown on the ground and said, “I am your servant. I’m ready to serve you and to wash the feet of my master’s servants.” ⁴² Abigail quickly got on a donkey and went with David’s messengers, with her five maids following her. And she became David’s wife.

⁴³ David also had married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So they were both David’s wives. ⁴⁴ Saul’s daughter Michal was also David’s wife, but Saul had given her to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

David Shames Saul Again

26 The people of Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and said to him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon.”

² So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to look for David there. ³ Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. When he heard Saul had followed him, ⁴ he sent out spies and learned for certain that Saul had come to Hakilah.

⁵ Then David went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, were sleeping. Saul was sleeping in the middle of the camp with all the army around him.

⁶ David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into Saul’s camp with me?”

Abishai answered, “I’ll go with you.”

⁷ So that night David and Abishai went into Saul’s camp. Saul was asleep in the middle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the army were sleeping around Saul. ⁸ Abishai said to David, “Today God has handed your enemy over to you. Let me pin Saul to the ground with my spear. I’ll only have to do it once. I won’t need to hit him twice.”

⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill Saul! No one can harm the Lord’s appointed king and still be innocent! ¹⁰ As surely as the Lord lives, the Lord himself will punish Saul. Maybe Saul will die naturally, or maybe he will go into battle and be killed. ¹¹ But may the Lord keep me from harming his appointed king! Take the spear and water jug that are near Saul’s head. Then let’s go.”

¹² So David took the spear and water jug that were near Saul’s head, and they left. No one saw them or knew about it or woke up, because the Lord had put them sound asleep.

¹³ David crossed over to the other side of the hill and stood on top of the mountain far from Saul’s camp. They were a long way away from each other. ¹⁴ David shouted to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Won’t you answer me, Abner?”

Abner answered, “Who is calling for the king? Who are you?”

¹⁵ David said, “You’re the greatest man in Israel. Isn’t that true? Why didn’t you guard your master the king? Someone came into your camp to kill your master the king! ¹⁶ You have not done well. As surely as the Lord lives, you and your men should die. You haven’t guarded your master, the Lord’s appointed king. Look! Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?”

¹⁷ Saul knew David’s voice. He said, “Is that your voice, David my son?”

David answered, “Yes, it is, my master and king.” ¹⁸ David also said, “Why are you chasing me, my master? What wrong have I done? What evil am I guilty of? ¹⁹ My master and king, listen to me. If the Lord made you angry with me, let him accept an offering. But if people did it, may the Lord curse them! They have made me leave the land the Lord gave me. They have told me, ‘Go and serve other gods.’ ²⁰ Now don’t let me die far away from the Lord’s presence. The king of Israel has come out looking for a flea! You’re just hunting a bird in the mountains!”

²¹ Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Today you respected my life, so I will not try to hurt you. I have been very stupid and foolish.”

²² David answered, “Here is your spear. Let one of your young men come here and get it. ²³ The Lord rewards us for the things we do right and for our loyalty to him. The Lord handed you over to me today, but I wouldn’t harm the Lord’s appointed king. ²⁴ As I respected your life today, may the Lord also respect my life and save me from all trouble.”

²⁵ Then Saul said to David, “You are blessed, my son David. You will do great things and succeed.”

So David went on his way, and Saul went back home.

David Lives with the Philistines

27 But David thought to himself, “Saul will catch me someday. The best thing I can do is escape to the land of the Philistines. Then he will give up looking for me in Israel, and I can get away from him.”

² So David and his six hundred men left Israel and went to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³ David, his men, and their families made their home in Gath with Achish. David had his two wives with him—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. ⁴ When Saul heard that David had run away to Gath, he stopped looking for him.

⁵ Then David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with me, give me a place in one of the country towns where I can live. I don’t need to live in the royal city with you.”

⁶ That day Achish gave David the town of Ziklag, and Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. ⁷ David lived in the Philistine land a year and four months.

⁸ David and his men raided the people of Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek. (These people had lived for a long time in the land that reached to Shur and Egypt.) ⁹ When David fought them, he killed all the men and women and took their sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.

¹⁰ Achish would ask David, “Where did you go raiding today?” And David would tell him that he had gone to the southern part of Judah, or Jerahmeel, or to the land of the Kenites. ¹¹ David never brought a man or woman alive to Gath. He thought, “If we bring people alive, they may tell Achish, ‘This is what David really did.’” David did this all the time he lived in the Philistine land. ¹² So Achish trusted David and said to himself, “David’s own people, the Israelites, now hate him very much. He will serve me forever.”