1 Samuel 25
New Living Translation
The Death of Samuel
25 Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered for his funeral. They buried him at his house in Ramah.
Nabal Angers David
Then David moved down to the wilderness of Maon.[a] 2 There was a wealthy man from Maon who owned property near the town of Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and it was sheep-shearing time. 3 This man’s name was Nabal, and his wife, Abigail, was a sensible and beautiful woman. But Nabal, a descendant of Caleb, was crude and mean in all his dealings.
4 When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5 he sent ten of his young men to Carmel with this message for Nabal: 6 “Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own! 7 I am told that it is sheep-shearing time. While your shepherds stayed among us near Carmel, we never harmed them, and nothing was ever stolen from them. 8 Ask your own men, and they will tell you this is true. So would you be kind to us, since we have come at a time of celebration? Please share any provisions you might have on hand with us and with your friend David.” 9 David’s young men gave this message to Nabal in David’s name, and they waited for a reply.
10 “Who is this fellow David?” Nabal sneered to the young men. “Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are lots of servants these days who run away from their masters. 11 Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I’ve slaughtered for my shearers and give it to a band of outlaws who come from who knows where?”
12 So David’s young men returned and told him what Nabal had said. 13 “Get your swords!” was David’s reply as he strapped on his own. Then 400 men started off with David, and 200 remained behind to guard their equipment.
14 Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s servants went to Abigail and told her, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed insults at them. 15 These men have been very good to us, and we never suffered any harm from them. Nothing was stolen from us the whole time they were with us. 16 In fact, day and night they were like a wall of protection to us and the sheep. 17 You need to know this and figure out what to do, for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family. He’s so ill-tempered that no one can even talk to him!”
18 Abigail wasted no time. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two wineskins full of wine, five sheep that had been slaughtered, nearly a bushel[b] of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes. She packed them on donkeys 19 and said to her servants, “Go on ahead. I will follow you shortly.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal what she was doing.
20 As she was riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming toward her. 21 David had just been saying, “A lot of good it did to help this fellow. We protected his flocks in the wilderness, and nothing he owned was lost or stolen. But he has repaid me evil for good. 22 May God strike me and kill me[c] if even one man of his household is still alive tomorrow morning!”
Abigail Intercedes for Nabal
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed low before him. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord. Please listen to what I have to say. 25 I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don’t pay any attention to him. He is a fool, just as his name suggests.[d] But I never even saw the young men you sent.
26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since the Lord has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, let all your enemies and those who try to harm you be as cursed as Nabal is. 27 And here is a present that I, your servant, have brought to you and your young men. 28 Please forgive me if I have offended you in any way. The Lord will surely reward you with a lasting dynasty, for you are fighting the Lord’s battles. And you have not done wrong throughout your entire life.
29 “Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the Lord your God, secure in his treasure pouch! But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling! 30 When the Lord has done all he promised and has made you leader of Israel, 31 don’t let this be a blemish on your record. Then your conscience won’t have to bear the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and vengeance. And when the Lord has done these great things for you, please remember me, your servant!”
32 David replied to Abigail, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today! 33 Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands. 34 For I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from hurting you, that if you had not hurried out to meet me, not one of Nabal’s men would still be alive tomorrow morning.” 35 Then David accepted her present and told her, “Return home in peace. I have heard what you said. We will not kill your husband.”
36 When Abigail arrived home, she found that Nabal was throwing a big party and was celebrating like a king. He was very drunk, so she didn’t tell him anything about her meeting with David until dawn the next day. 37 In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him what had happened. As a result he had a stroke,[e] and he lay paralyzed on his bed like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck him, and he died.
David Marries Abigail
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord, who has avenged the insult I received from Nabal and has kept me from doing it myself. Nabal has received the punishment for his sin.” Then David sent messengers to Abigail to ask her to become his wife.
40 When the messengers arrived at Carmel, they told Abigail, “David has sent us to take you back to marry him.”
41 She bowed low to the ground and responded, “I, your servant, would be happy to marry David. I would even be willing to become a slave, washing the feet of his servants!” 42 Quickly getting ready, she took along five of her servant girls as attendants, mounted her donkey, and went with David’s messengers. And so she became his wife. 43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, making both of them his wives. 44 Saul, meanwhile, had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to a man from Gallim named Palti son of Laish.
1 Samuel 25
Legacy Standard Bible
The Death of Samuel
25 (A)Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and (B)lamented for him and (C)buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the (D)wilderness of Paran.
David and Abigail
2 Now there was a man in (E)Maon whose work was in (F)Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. And it happened, while (G)he was shearing his sheep in Carmel 3 (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his (H)wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was good in insight and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was (I)a Calebite), 4 that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, come to Nabal, and greet him in my name; 6 and thus you shall say, ‘[a]Have a long life; (J)peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 So now I have heard (K)that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us; and we have not dishonored them, (L)nor have they missed anything all the days 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 have come on (M)a [b]festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son, to David.’”
9 Then David’s young men came and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name. Then they waited. 10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “(N)Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. 11 Shall I then (O)take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men [c]whose origin I do not know?” 12 So David’s young men went back on their way and returned; and they came and told him according to all these words. 13 Then David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about (P)four hundred men went up behind David, and two hundred (Q)stayed with the baggage.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to [d](R)greet our master, and he rushed at them angrily. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not (S)dishonored, nor did we miss anything [e]as long as we went about with them, while we were in the field. 16 (T)They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them shepherding the sheep. 17 So now, know and see what you should do, for evil is decided against our master and against all his household; and he is such a [f]vile man that no one can speak to him.”
Abigail’s Discernment
18 Then Abigail hurried and (U)took two hundred loaves of bread and two [g]jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and [h]five seahs of roasted grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she said to her young men, “(V)Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 So it was happening, as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; and she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely for a lie I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has (W)returned me evil for good. 22 (X)May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, (Y)if by morning I leave as much as one [i]male of any who belong to him.”
23 Then Abigail saw David; so she hurried and dismounted from her donkey and fell on her face [j]before David (Z)and bowed herself to the ground. 24 And she fell at his feet and said, “On me [k]alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and listen to the words of your maidservant. 25 Please do not let my lord [l]pay attention to this [m]vile man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. [n]Nabal is his name, and wicked foolishness is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
26 “So now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has restrained you from [o]shedding blood, and (AA)from saving yourself by your own hand, so now, (AB)let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. 27 So now let (AC)this [p]gift which your servant-woman has brought to my lord be given to the young men who [q]went about with my lord. 28 Please forgive (AD)the transgression of your maidservant; for (AE)Yahweh will certainly make for my lord an enduring house because my lord is (AF)fighting the battles of Yahweh, and (AG)evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 And should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your [r]life, then the [s]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Yahweh your God; but the [t]lives of your enemies (AH)He will sling out [u]as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And it will be that when Yahweh does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and (AI)appoints you ruler over Israel, 31 then this will not [v]cause stumbling or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having saved himself. (AJ)When Yahweh deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”
32 Then David said to Abigail, “(AK)Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, 33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, (AL)who have kept me this day from [w]bloodshed and from saving myself by my own hand. 34 Nevertheless, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, (AM)who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one [x]male.” 35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “(AN)Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice and [y](AO)granted your request.”
36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding (AP)a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, (AQ)for he was very drunk; so (AR)she did not tell him anything small or great until the morning light. 37 But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone. 38 Now it happened that about ten days later, (AS)Yahweh smote Nabal, and he died.
Abigail Becomes David’s Wife
39 Then David heard that Nabal was dead, so he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has (AT)pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and (AU)has kept back His servant from evil. Yahweh has also returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent [z](AV)a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 Then the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel and spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you as his wife.” 41 And she arose (AW)and bowed with her [aa]face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is a servant-woman (AX)to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Then (AY)Abigail hurried and arose, and she rode on a donkey, with her five young women who [ab]went about with her; and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.
43 David had also taken Ahinoam of (AZ)Jezreel, and (BA)they both became his wives.
44 Now Saul had given (BB)Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from (BC)Gallim.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 25:6 Lit To life
- 1 Samuel 25:8 Lit good
- 1 Samuel 25:11 Lit from where they are
- 1 Samuel 25:14 Lit bless
- 1 Samuel 25:15 Lit all the days
- 1 Samuel 25:17 Lit son of Belial
- 1 Samuel 25:18 Heb is similar to Nabal
- 1 Samuel 25:18 Approx. 35 qt. or 38.5 l, a seah was approx. 7 qt. or 7.7 l
- 1 Samuel 25:22 Lit who urinates against the wall, cf. 25:34; 1 Kin 14:10; 16:11; 21:21; 2 Kin 9:8
- 1 Samuel 25:23 Lit with her nose to
- 1 Samuel 25:24 Lit even me
- 1 Samuel 25:25 Lit set his heart to
- 1 Samuel 25:25 Lit man of Belial
- 1 Samuel 25:25 Lit Wicked fool
- 1 Samuel 25:26 Lit coming in with blood
- 1 Samuel 25:27 Lit blessing
- 1 Samuel 25:27 Lit walk at the feet of
- 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit soul
- 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit soul
- 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit soul
- 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit in the midst
- 1 Samuel 25:31 Lit become staggering to you or a stumbling of the heart
- 1 Samuel 25:33 Lit coming in with blood
- 1 Samuel 25:34 Lit who urinates against the wall, cf. 25:22; 1 Kin 14:10; 16:11; 21:21; 2 Kin 9:8
- 1 Samuel 25:35 Lit lifted up your face
- 1 Samuel 25:39 Lit and spoke
- 1 Samuel 25:41 Lit nose
- 1 Samuel 25:42 Lit walked at her feet
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