1 Samuel 25
Living Bible
25 Shortly afterwards Samuel died, and all Israel gathered for his funeral and buried him in his family plot at Ramah.
Meanwhile David went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2 A wealthy man from Maon owned a sheep ranch there, near the village of Carmel. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and was at his ranch at this time for the sheepshearing. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife, a beautiful and very intelligent woman, was named Abigail. But the man, who was a descendant of Caleb, was uncouth, churlish, stubborn, and ill-mannered.
4 When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5 he sent ten of his young men to Carmel to give him this message: 6 “May God prosper you and your family and multiply everything you own. 7 I am told that you are shearing your sheep and goats. While your shepherds have lived among us, we have never harmed them, nor stolen anything from them the whole time they have been in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men and they will tell you whether or not this is true. Now I have sent my men to ask for a little contribution from you, for we have come at a happy time of holiday. Please give us a present of whatever is at hand.”
9 The young men gave David’s message to Nabal and waited for his reply.
10 “Who is this fellow David?” he sneered. “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 gang who comes from God knows where?”
12 So David’s messengers returned and told him what Nabal had said.
13 “Get your swords!” was David’s reply as he strapped on his own. Four hundred of them started off with David and two hundred remained behind to guard their gear.
14 Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s men went and told Abigail, “David sent men from the wilderness to talk to our master, but he insulted them and railed at them. 15-16 But David’s men were very good to us and we never suffered any harm from them; in fact, day and night they were like a wall of protection to us and the sheep, and nothing was stolen from us the whole time they were with us. 17 You’d better think fast, for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family—he’s such a stubborn lout that no one can even talk to him!”
18 Then Abigail hurriedly took two hundred loaves of bread, two barrels of wine, five dressed sheep, two bushels of roasted grain, one hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and packed them onto donkeys.
19 “Go on ahead,” she said to her young men, “and I will follow.” But she didn’t tell her husband what she was doing. 20 As she was riding down the trail on her donkey, she met David coming toward her.
21 David had been saying to himself, “A lot of good it did us to help this fellow. We protected his flocks in the wilderness so that not one thing was lost or stolen, but he has repaid me bad for good. All that I get for my trouble is insults. 22 May God curse me if even one of his men remains alive by tomorrow morning!”
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted and bowed low before him.
24 “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord,” she said. “Please listen to what I want to say. 25 Nabal is a bad-tempered boor, but please don’t pay any attention to what he said. He is a fool—just like his name means. But I didn’t see the messengers you sent. 26 Sir, since the Lord has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, I pray by the life of God, and by your own life too, that all your enemies shall be as cursed as Nabal is. 27 And now, here is a present I have brought to you and your young men. 28 Forgive me for my boldness in coming out here. The Lord will surely reward you with eternal royalty for your descendants, for you are fighting his battles; and you will never do wrong throughout your entire life. 29 Even when you are chased by those who seek your life, you are safe in the care of the Lord your God, just as though you were safe inside his purse! But the lives of your enemies shall disappear like stones from a sling! 30-31 When the Lord has done all the good things he promised you and has made you king of Israel, you won’t want the conscience of a murderer who took the law into his own hands! And when the Lord has done these great things for you, please remember me!”
32 David replied to Abigail, “Bless the Lord God of Israel who has sent you to meet me today! 33 Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murdering the man and 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 come out to meet me, not one of Nabal’s men would be alive tomorrow morning.”
35 Then David accepted her gifts and told her to return home without fear, for he would not kill her husband. 36 When she arrived home she found that Nabal had thrown a big party. He was roaring drunk, so she didn’t tell him anything about her meeting with David until the next morning. 37-38 By that time he was sober, and when his wife told him what had happened, he had a stroke and lay paralyzed[a] for about ten days, then died, for the Lord killed him.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord! God has paid back Nabal and kept me from doing it myself; he has received his punishment for his sin.”
Then David wasted no time in sending messengers to Abigail to ask her to become his wife. 40 When the messengers arrived at Carmel and told her why they had come, 41 she readily agreed to his request. 42 Quickly getting ready, she took along five of her serving girls as attendants, mounted her donkey, and followed the men back to David. So she became his wife.
43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel. 44 King Saul, meanwhile, had forced David’s wife Michal, Saul’s daughter, to marry a man from Gallim named Palti (the son of Laish).
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 25:37 he had a stroke and lay paralyzed, literally, “his heart died within him and he became as stone.”
1 Samuel 25
New King James Version
Death of Samuel
25 Then (A)Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and (B)lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down (C)to the Wilderness of [a]Paran.
David and the Wife of Nabal
2 Now there was a man (D)in Maon whose business was in (E)Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of (F)Caleb.
4 When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was (G)shearing his sheep, 5 David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6 And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: (H)‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! 7 Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, (I)nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore [b]let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on (J)a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”
9 So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.
10 Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, (K)“Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. 11 (L)Shall I then take my bread and my water and my [c]meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?”
12 So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. 13 Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred (M)stayed with the supplies.
14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he [d]reviled them. 15 But the men were very good to us, and (N)we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. 16 They were (O)a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for (P)harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a (Q)scoundrel[e] that one cannot speak to him.”
18 Then Abigail made haste and (R)took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her servants, (S)“Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has (T)repaid me evil for good. 22 (U)May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I (V)leave (W)one male of all who belong to him by morning light.”
23 Now when Abigail saw David, she (X)dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. 24 So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant [f]speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. 25 Please, let not my lord [g]regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: [h]Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. 26 Now therefore, my lord, (Y)as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has (Z)held you back from coming to bloodshed and from (AA)avenging[i] yourself with your own hand, now then, (AB)let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now (AC)this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For (AD)the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord (AE)fights the battles of the Lord, (AF)and evil is not found in you throughout your days. 29 Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be (AG)bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall (AH)sling out, as from the pocket of a sling. 30 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you (AI)ruler over Israel, 31 that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”
32 Then David said to Abigail: (AJ)“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have (AK)kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has (AL)kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely (AM)by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!” 35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, (AN)“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and (AO)respected your person.”
36 Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was, (AP)holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until morning light. 37 So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. 38 Then it happened, after about ten days, that the Lord (AQ)struck Nabal, and he died.
39 So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, (AR)“Blessed be the Lord, who has (AS)pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has (AT)kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has (AU)returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.”
And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, “David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife.”
41 Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, “Here is your maidservant, a servant to (AV)wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, [j]attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43 David also took Ahinoam (AW)of Jezreel, (AX)and so both of them were his wives.
44 But Saul had given (AY)Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to [k]Palti the son of Laish, who was from (AZ)Gallim.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 25:1 So with MT, Syr., Tg., Vg.; LXX Maon
- 1 Samuel 25:8 be gracious to the young men
- 1 Samuel 25:11 Lit. slaughter
- 1 Samuel 25:14 scolded or scorned at
- 1 Samuel 25:17 Lit. son of Belial
- 1 Samuel 25:24 speak to you
- 1 Samuel 25:25 pay attention to
- 1 Samuel 25:25 Lit. Fool
- 1 Samuel 25:26 Lit. saving yourself
- 1 Samuel 25:42 Lit. with five of her maidens at her feet
- 1 Samuel 25:44 Paltiel, 2 Sam. 3:15
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2016 by Ruth Magnusson (Davis). Includes emendations to February 2022. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
