1 Samuel 25
Contemporary English Version
Samuel Dies
25 Samuel died, and people from all over Israel gathered to mourn for him when he was buried at his home[a] in Ramah. Meanwhile, David moved his camp to Paran Desert.[b]
Abigail Keeps David from Killing Innocent People
2-3 Nabal was a very rich man who lived in Maon. He owned 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, which he kept at Carmel.[c] His wife Abigail was sensible and beautiful, but he was from the Caleb clan[d] and was rough and mean.
4 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. 7 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. 8 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,[e] so please be kind and share some of your food with us.
9 David's men went to Nabal and gave him David's message, then they waited for Nabal's answer.
10 This is what he said:
Who does this David think he is? That son of Jesse is just one more slave on the run from his master, and there are too many of them these days. 11 What makes you think I would take my bread, my water, and the meat that I've had cooked for my own servants[f] and give it to you? Besides, I'm not sure that David sent you![g]
12 The men returned to their camp and told David everything Nabal had said.
13 “Everybody get your swords!” David ordered.
They all strapped on their swords. Two hundred men stayed behind to guard the camp, but the other 400 followed David.
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. 17 He's a bully who won't listen to anyone.
Isn't there something you can do? Please think of something! Or else our master and his family and everyone who works for him are all doomed.
18 Abigail quickly got together 200 loaves of bread, two large clay jars of wine, the meat from five sheep, a large sack of roasted grain, 100 handfuls of raisins, and 200 handfuls of dried figs. She loaded all the food on donkeys 19 and told her servants, “Take this on ahead, and I'll catch up with you.” She didn't tell her husband Nabal what she was doing.
20 Abigail was riding her donkey on the path that led around the hillside, when suddenly she met David and his men heading straight at her.
21 David had just been saying, “I surely wasted my time guarding Nabal's things in the desert and keeping them from being stolen! I was good to him, and now he pays me back with insults. 22 I swear that by morning, there won't be a man or boy left from his family or his servants' families. I pray that God will punish me[h] if I don't do it!”
23 Abigail quickly got off her donkey and bowed down in front of David. 24 Then she said:
Sir, please let me explain! 25 Don't pay any attention to that good-for-nothing Nabal. His name means “fool,” and it really fits him!
I didn't see the men you sent, 26-27 but please take this gift of food that I've brought and share it with your followers. The Lord has kept you from taking revenge and from killing innocent people. But I hope your enemies and anyone else who wants to harm you will end up like Nabal. I swear this by the living Lord and by your life.
28 Please forgive me if I say a little more. The Lord will always protect you and your family, because you fight for him. I pray that you won't ever do anything evil as long as you live. 29 The Lord your God will keep you safe when your enemies try to kill you. But he will snatch away their lives quicker than you can throw a rock from a sling.
30 The Lord has promised to do many good things for you, even to make you the ruler of Israel. The Lord will keep his promises to you, 31 and now your conscience will be clear, because you won't be guilty of taking revenge and killing innocent people.
When the Lord does all those good things for you, please remember me.
32 David told her:
I praise the Lord God of Israel! He must have sent you to meet me today. 33 And you should also be praised. Your good sense kept me from taking revenge and killing innocent people. 34 If you hadn't come to meet me so quickly, every man and boy in Nabal's family and in his servants' families would have been killed by morning. I swear by the living Lord God of Israel who protected you that this is the truth.
35 David accepted the food Abigail had brought. “Don't worry,” he said. “You can go home now. I'll do what you asked.”
36 Abigail went back home and found Nabal throwing a party fit for a king. He was very drunk and feeling good, so she didn't tell him anything that night. 37 But when he sobered up the next morning, Abigail told him everything that had happened. Nabal had a heart attack, and he lay in bed as still as a stone. 38 Ten days later, the Lord took his life.
39-40 David heard that Nabal had died. “I praise the Lord!” David said. “He has judged Nabal guilty for insulting me. The Lord kept me from doing anything wrong, and he made sure that Nabal hurt only himself with his own evil.”
David and Abigail Are Married
Abigail was still at Carmel. So David sent messengers to ask her if she would marry him.
41 She bowed down and said, “I would willingly be David's slave and wash his servants' feet.”
42 Abigail quickly got ready and went back with David's messengers. She rode on her donkey, while five of her servant women walked alongside. She and David were married as soon as she arrived.
43 David had earlier married Ahinoam from the town of Jezreel, so both she and Abigail were now David's wives.[i] 44 (A) Meanwhile, Saul had arranged for Michal[j] to marry Palti the son of Laish, who came from the town of Gallim.
Footnotes
- 25.1 at his home: Hebrew “in his house.” Family tombs were sometimes underneath the house or in the courtyard of the home.
- 25.1 Paran Desert: Hebrew; some manuscripts of one ancient translation “Maon Desert.”
- 25.2,3 Carmel: About one and a half kilometers north of Maon in the Southern Desert of Judah.
- 25.2,3 from the Caleb clan: Or “behaved like a dog.”
- 25.8 celebrating: Cutting the wool from the sheep was a time for celebrating as well as for working.
- 25.11 servants: Hebrew “shearers,” the servants who cut the wool from the sheep.
- 25.11 I'm not sure … sent you: Or “I don't know where you come from.”
- 25.22 me: One ancient translation; Hebrew “my enemies.”
- 25.43 wives: Having more than one wife was allowed in those times.
- 25.44 Michal: David's first wife (see 18.20—19.17).
1 Samuel 25
English Standard Version
The Death of Samuel
25 (A)Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled (B)and mourned for him, and they buried him (C)in his house at (D)Ramah.
David and Abigail
Then David rose and went down to (E)the wilderness of Paran. 2 And there was a man in (F)Maon whose business was in (G)Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. (H)He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; (I)he was a Calebite. 4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal (J)was shearing his sheep. 5 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. 6 And thus you shall greet him:[a] (K)‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, (L)and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come (M)on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
9 When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. 10 And Nabal answered David's servants, (N)“Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? (O)There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. 11 Shall I take (P)my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to (Q)men who come from I do not know where?” 12 So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. 13 And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And (R)about four hundred men went up after David, (S)while two hundred (T)remained with the baggage.
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, (U)and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. 16 They were (V)a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, (W)for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such (X)a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”
18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs[b] of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, (Y)so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has (Z)returned me evil for good. 22 (AA)God do so to the enemies of David[c] and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried (AB)and got down from the donkey (AC)and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, (AD)“On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. 25 Let not my lord regard (AE)this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal[d] is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26 Now then, my lord, (AF)as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because (AG)the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from (AH)saving with your own hand, now then (AI)let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now let this (AJ)present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord (AK)a sure house, because my lord (AL)is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29 If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies (AM)he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince[e] over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord (AN)working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32 And David said to Abigail, (AO)“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, (AP)who have kept me this day from bloodguilt (AQ)and from working salvation with my own hand! 34 For as surely (AR)as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, (AS)who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, (AT)“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, (AU)he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart (AV)was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing (AW)at all until the morning light. 37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And about ten days later (AX)the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, (AY)“Blessed be the Lord who has (AZ)avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, (BA)and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. (BB)The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and (BC)spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41 And she rose (BD)and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of (BE)Jezreel, (BF)and both of them became his wives. 44 Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 25:6 Or shall say to him who lives
- 1 Samuel 25:18 A seah was about 7.7 quarts or 7.3 liters
- 1 Samuel 25:22 Septuagint to David
- 1 Samuel 25:25 Nabal means fool
- 1 Samuel 25:30 Or leader
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