1 Samuel 25
EasyEnglish Bible
Samuel dies
25 Then Samuel died. All the Israelites met together and they were very sad. Then they buried Samuel at his home in Ramah.
David went down to the Paran desert.
Nabal insults David
2-3 There was a very rich man who lived at Maon. His name was Nabal. He was a descendant of Caleb. His wife's name was Abigail. She was wise and beautiful. But Nabal was a cruel man who did evil things.
Nabal had some land near Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was with his men in Carmel as they cut the wool from his sheep.
4 While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men to meet with Nabal. He said to them, ‘Go to Carmel and find Nabal. Tell him that David says “hello”. 6 Then give him this message: “We hope that you and your family are all well. We hope that everything you have is doing well. 7 David has heard that you are now cutting the wool from your sheep. When your shepherds were with us near Carmel, we did not hurt them. We did not take anything from them. 8 Your servants will tell you that, if you ask them. Now we have come to you at this special holiday time. So please be kind to the young men that David has sent to see you. They are your servants as well as his servants. Please give any extra food that you have to these young men and to your good friend David.” ’
9 David's men went to Carmel. They gave David's message to Nabal. They waited for Nabal to reply. 10 Nabal answered David's young men, ‘Who is this David? Do I know this son of Jesse? Many servants run away from their masters these days. 11 I have food and drink for the men who are cutting the wool from my sheep. I have cooked meat for them to eat. But I will not give anything to you. You might have come from anywhere!’
12 David's young men left Nabal. They returned to David and they told him everything that Nabal had said. 13 David said to his men, ‘Tie your swords onto your belts.’ So they all did that. David put his sword on his belt too. About 400 men went with David. About 200 men stayed at their camp.
14 One of Nabal's servants spoke to Nabal's wife, Abigail. He said to her, ‘David sent some of his men from the desert to say “hello” to our master. But our master insulted them. 15 David's men have been very kind to us. When we were with them in the fields, they did not hurt us. They did not take anything from us the whole time that we were there. 16 They kept us safe while we took care of Nabal's sheep. They kept us safe all the time, during the day and at night. 17 So please think carefully about this. Decide what you can do. If you do nothing, there will be great trouble for our master and all his family and servants. He is such a wicked man that he will not listen to anyone.’
18 Abigail quickly got some food. She got 200 loaves of bread, two leather bags of wine, five sheep that she had cooked, and five jars of grain that she had cooked. She also got 100 blocks of raisins and 200 blocks of dried figs. She put all these things on some donkeys. 19 She said to her servants, ‘You go first and I will follow you.’ But she did not tell her husband Nabal what she was doing.
20 Abigail rode her donkey along the path beside a mountain. Then she saw David and his men as they were coming towards her. So they all met each other. 21 David had just said to his men, ‘I kept Nabal's people and all his things safe in the desert. We did not take anything from him. But that has not helped us. I was kind to him, but he has done an evil thing to me in return. 22 I pray that God will punish me if I do not kill all the men in Nabal's family by tomorrow morning.’
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey. She bent her body down low on the ground to respect David. 24 She lay down at his feet. She said to David, ‘My master, I am the one who is guilty. I am your servant. Please let me say something and please listen to me. 25 Please sir, do not think about that wicked man Nabal. His name means “fool” and he really is a fool. But as for me, I did not see the young men that you sent.
26 I know this as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live: The Lord has stopped you from killing anyone today. You could have done that, but he has not let you do it. I pray that God will punish all your enemies in the same way that he will punish Nabal. 27 My master, please accept these gifts that I have brought for you and for your men. 28 I am your servant. Please forgive me for any sin. I know that the Lord will always choose someone from your family to be Israel's king. The Lord will do that because you fight battles on his behalf. I pray that you will not do any evil thing in your whole life. 29 People may chase after you and try to kill you. But the Lord your God will always keep you safe. He will throw your enemies away like someone who throws a stone from his sling. 30 The Lord will surely do for you all the good things that he has promised to do. He will make you the ruler of the Israelites. 31 When that happens, you will not feel sorry for something bad that you might have done today. You could have killed people today for no good reason. You could have tried to punish these people yourself. So please remember me when the Lord has helped you to rule as king.’
32 David said to Abigail, ‘I praise the Lord, Israel's God. He has sent you to meet me here today. 33 I thank you for your wisdom. May the Lord bless you because of what you have done to help me. You have stopped me from killing people today. I would have punished these people myself. 34 But the Lord has not let me hurt you. As surely as the Lord, Israel's God, lives, I would have killed all the men in Nabal's family before dawn. But you came quickly to meet me.’
35 David accepted Abigail's gifts that she had brought with her. He said to her, ‘Go back to your home and do not be afraid. I have listened to what you have said. I will do what you have asked for.’
Nabal dies
36 Abigail returned to her husband, Nabal. He was eating a big feast with people in his house. It was as good as a king's feast. Nabal was happy and drunk. So Abigail did not tell him anything until the next morning.
37 The next morning, Nabal was no longer drunk. So Abigail told him about everything that she had done. Nabal's heart failed. His body became like a stone. 38 About ten days after that, the Lord caused Nabal to die.
39 David heard the news that Nabal had died. He said, ‘I praise the Lord. He has shown that I was right. Nabal insulted me but the Lord has punished him for that. The Lord stopped me from doing an evil thing. Now he has punished Nabal for the evil thing that he did.’
Then David sent a message to Abigail to ask her to marry him. 40 David's servants went to Carmel. They said to Abigail, ‘David has sent us to you. We must take you back with us to become his wife.’
41 Abigail bent her body down low so that her face touched the ground. She said, ‘I am happy to be David's servant. I am ready to wash the feet of his servants.’
42 Abigail quickly prepared her donkey to go with David's men. She took with her five young girls to be her servants. Abigail went to David and she became his wife.
43 David had already married Ahinoam from Jezreel town. So these two women became his wives. 44 Saul's daughter Michal had been David's wife. But Saul had then given her to Palti as his wife. Palti was the son of Laish, who came from Gallim town.
1 Samuel 25
King James Version
25 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
8 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
9 And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.
11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?
12 So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
15 But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
20 And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert on the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.
21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
22 So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
30 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
34 For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died.
39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.
41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42 And Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.
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