1 Samuel 25:2-44
Expanded Bible
2 A man in Maon who had ·land [business] at Carmel was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was ·cutting the wool off his sheep [having his sheep shorn] at Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal [C meaning “Fool” in Hebrew], and he was a descendant of Caleb [Num. 13:6, 30; 14:6, 24, 30; Josh. 14:6; 15:14; Judg. 1:12–20]. His wife was named Abigail. She was ·wise [intelligent; clever; sensible] and beautiful, but Nabal was ·cruel [harsh; crude; surly] and mean. He was a Calebite.
4 While David was in the ·desert [wilderness], he heard that Nabal was ·cutting the wool from [shearing] his sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Nabal at Carmel, and greet him ·for me [L in my name]. 6 Say to Nabal, ‘May you and your ·family [L house] and all who belong to you have ·good health [long life; peace; prosperity]! 7 I have heard that you are ·cutting the wool from [shearing] your sheep. When your shepherds were with us, we did not ·harm [mistreat] them. All the time your shepherds were at Carmel, ·we stole nothing from them [they missed/lost nothing]. 8 Ask your ·servants [L young men], and they will tell you. We come at a ·happy time [feast day; festive time], so ·be kind [show favor] to my young men. Please give anything [C provisions] you ·can find [have at hand] for them and for your son David.’”
9 When David’s men arrived, they gave the message to Nabal [L in David’s name], ·but Nabal insulted them [L and then waited]. 10 He answered them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many ·slaves [servants] are running away from their masters ·today [these days]! 11 I have bread and water, and I have meat that I ·killed [slaughtered] for my ·servants who cut the wool [shearers]. ·But I won’t give it to men I don’t know [L Why should I give it to men from who knows where?].”
12 David’s men went back and told him all Nabal had said. 13 Then David said to them, “·Put [Strap; Buckle; T Gird] on your swords!” So they ·put [strapped; buckled; T girded] on their swords, and David put [strapped; buckled; T girded] on his also. About four hundred men went with David, but two hundred men stayed with the ·supplies [equipment; baggage].
14 One of Nabal’s ·servants [young men] said to Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the ·desert [wilderness] to greet our master, but Nabal ·insulted [scorned] them. 15 These men were very good to us. They did not ·harm [mistreat] us. ·They stole nothing from us [Nothing was missing] during all the time we were out in the field with them. 16 Night and day they ·protected us. They were […were] like a wall around us while we were with them ·caring for [tending; minding] the sheep. 17 Now ·think about it [make up your mind], and ·decide [consider] what you ·can [should] do. ·Terrible trouble is coming to [Disaster is certain for; Evil is fated for] our master and all his ·family [household]. Nabal is such a ·wicked [ill-tempered; quarrelsome] man that no one can even talk to him.”
18 Abigail hurried. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two ·leather bags [wineskins] full of wine, five ·cooked [prepared; slaughtered] sheep, ·a bushel [five measures/L seahs] of ·cooked [roasted] grain, a hundred ·cakes [clusters] of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs and ·put [loaded] all these on donkeys. 19 Then she told her ·servants [L young men], “Go on [L ahead]. I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 Abigail rode her donkey and came down toward ·the [a] mountain ·hideout [ravine]. There she met David and his men coming down toward her.
21 David had just said, “·It’s been useless! [In vain have ] I ·watched over [guarded; protected] Nabal’s property in the ·desert [wilderness]. I made sure ·none of his sheep was missing [nothing was stolen]. I did good to him, but he has paid me back with evil. 22 May God punish ·me [L David][a] even more than my enemies if I leave even one of Nabal’s ·men [L one who urinates against a wall] alive until morning.
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and ·bowed facedown on the ground [prostrated herself] before him. 24 She fell at David’s feet and said, “My ·master [lord], let the ·blame [guilt] be on me! Please let ·me [L your maidservant] talk to you. Listen to what ·I [L your maidservant has to] say. 25 My ·master [lord], [L please] don’t ·pay attention to [L set your heart/mind on] this worthless man Nabal. He is like his name. His name means ·‘fool’ [‘brute’], and he is truly a ·fool [brute]. But I, your servant, didn’t see the men you sent. 26 The Lord has kept you from killing and ·punishing anyone [taking revenge/vengeance by your own hand]. As surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, may your enemies [L and those who seek to harm my lord] become like Nabal! 27 ·I [L Your maidservant] have brought a gift to you for the men who follow you. 28 Please forgive ·my [L your maidservant’s] ·wrong [offense; transgression]. The Lord will certainly ·let your family have many kings [make a lasting/enduring dynasty/house for my lord; 2 Sam. 7], because you fight ·his [L the Lord’s] battles. As long as you live, ·may you do nothing bad [L no evil/wrong will be found in you]. 29 Should someone try to chase you to ·kill you [L seek your life], the Lord your God will ·keep you alive [L wrap/bind you up with the living]. He will ·throw [sling; hurl; fling] away your enemies’ lives as ·he would throw a stone from [L the pocket of] a sling. 30 When the Lord has done all the good he promised, he will make you ·leader [ruler; prince] over Israel. 31 Then you won’t feel ·guilty [grieved; anxious] or ·troubled [remorse] because you ·killed innocent people and punished them [L shed blood without cause and avenged yourself]. Please remember ·me [L your maidservant] when the Lord ·brings you success [has done well by you].”
32 David answered Abigail, “·Praise [Blessed be] the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. 33 May you be blessed for your ·wisdom [good sense/judgment; discernment]. You have kept me from ·killing [bloodshed] or ·punishing people [L avenging myself with my own hand] today. 34 As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, he has kept me from ·hurting [harming] you. If you hadn’t come quickly to meet me, not one of Nabal’s ·men [L those who urinate against a wall] would ·have lived until [still be alive in the] morning.”
35 Then David ·accepted Abigail’s gifts [L received from her hand that which she had brought]. He told her, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words, and ·I will do what you have asked [granted your request/petition].”
Nabal’s Death
36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was in the house, ·eating [feasting; drinking] like a king. He was very drunk and in ·a good mood [high spirits]. So she told him nothing until ·the next morning [daybreak; dawn]. 37 In the morning when ·he was not drunk [L the wine had left him], his wife told him everything. ·His heart stopped [He had a stroke], 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 [Blessed be] the Lord! Nabal insulted me, but the Lord has ·supported me [avenged me; pleaded/judged my case; upheld my cause]! He has kept ·me [L his servant] from doing ·wrong [evil]. The Lord has ·punished Nabal for his wrong [L returned Nabal’s evildoing on his own head].”
Then David sent a ·message [proposal] 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 [prostrated herself] on the ground and said, “·I am [L Your maidservant is] your ·servant [slave]. I’m ready to serve you and to wash the feet of my ·master’s [lord’s] servants.” 42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and went with David’s messengers, with her five ·maids [servant-girls] 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 [18:20–29], but Saul had given her to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
Read full chapterNotas al pie
- 1 Samuel 25:22 David Some Greek copies read “David.” Hebrew copies read “the enemies of David.”
1 Samuel 25:2-44
Amplified Bible
Nabal and Abigail
2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business and possessions were in 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 (now the man’s name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings; he was a [a]Calebite). 4 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 and go to Nabal, and [b]greet him in my name; 6 and this is what you shall say, ‘[c]Have a long life! Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have. 7 Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us and we have not harmed them, nor were they missing anything 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 sight [and be well-treated], for we have come on a [d]good (festive) day. [e]Please, give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David; then they waited. 10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? [f]There are many servants today, each of whom is breaking away from his master. 11 So should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?” 12 So David’s young men made their way back and returned; and they came and told him everything that was said [to them by Nabal]. 13 David said to his men, “Each man put on your sword.” So each man put on his sword. David also put on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed back with the provisions and supplies.
14 But one of Nabal’s young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Listen, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless (greet) our master, and he shouted at them [in contempt]. 15 But David’s men were very good to us, and we were not harmed or treated badly, nor did we miss anything as long as we were with them, when we were in the fields. 16 They were a wall [of protection] to us both night and day, all the time that we were with them tending the sheep. 17 Now then, know this and consider what you should do, for evil is [already] planned against our master and against all his household; but he is such a [g]worthless and wicked man that one cannot speak [reasonably] to him.”
Abigail Intercedes
18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two jugs of wine, five sheep already prepared [for roasting], five measures of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men (servants), “Go on ahead of me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 It happened that as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by [way of] the hidden part of the mountain, that suddenly David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected and guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing of all that belonged to him; and he has repaid me evil for good. 22 May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave [alive] even one [h]male of any who belong to him.”
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from the donkey, and [i]kneeled face downward before David and bowed down to the ground [in respect]. 24 [j]Kneeling at his feet she said, “My lord, let the blame and guilt be on me alone. And please let your maidservant speak [k]to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. 25 Please do not let my lord [l]pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal (fool) is his [m]name and foolishness (stupidity) is with him; but I your maidservant did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.
26 So now, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has prevented you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord, be as [self-destructive as] Nabal. 27 Now this gift, which your maidservant has brought my lord, let it be given to the young men who [n]accompany and follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a secure and enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound in the [precious] bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies—those He will hurl out as from the center of a sling. 30 And it will happen when the Lord does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken (promised) concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel, 31 that this [incident] will not cause grief or [bring] a troubled conscience to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember [with favor] your maidservant.”
32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day. 33 And blessed be your discretion and discernment, and blessed be you, who has kept me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself by my own hand. 34 Nevertheless, as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, most certainly by the morning light there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35 So David [o]accepted what she had brought to him and said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and have [p]granted your request.”
36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and he was holding a feast in his house [for the shearers], like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s [q]mood was joyous because he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light. 37 But in the morning, when [r]Nabal was sober, and his wife told him these things, his [s]heart died within him and he became [paralyzed and helpless] like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
David Marries Abigail
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach [suffered] at the hand of Nabal and has kept His servant from [retaliating with] evil. For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, proposing to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to you to take you [to him] to be his wife.” 41 And she stood and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is [ready to be] a maid to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 Then Abigail quickly got up, and rode on a donkey, with five of her maidens who [t]attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
43 David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives.
44 But Saul had given Michal his [younger] daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
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- 1 Samuel 25:3 I.e. a descendant of Caleb.
- 1 Samuel 25:5 Lit ask him of his peace (welfare). It was customary to greet someone by asking him of his welfare (Heb shalom), like “How are you?” However, David specifies the greeting in v 6 without the actual question, so the question here (v 5) is just a way of saying, “greet him.”
- 1 Samuel 25:6 Lit To life!
- 1 Samuel 25:8 The time of shearing was a time of celebration and generosity.
- 1 Samuel 25:8 David and his men had given protection to Nabal’s flocks and shepherds, and it was appropriate for David to ask for compensation for this service.
- 1 Samuel 25:10 Nabal was insulting David and his men by implying that as far as he was concerned, they could be nothing but runaway slaves.
- 1 Samuel 25:17 Lit son of Belial.
- 1 Samuel 25:22 Lit who urinates against a wall.
- 1 Samuel 25:23 Lit fell.
- 1 Samuel 25:24 Lit Falling.
- 1 Samuel 25:24 Lit in your ears.
- 1 Samuel 25:25 Lit set his heart to.
- 1 Samuel 25:25 Nabal means “worthless, good for nothing.”
- 1 Samuel 25:27 Lit walk at the feet of.
- 1 Samuel 25:35 Lit took from her hand.
- 1 Samuel 25:35 Lit lifted up your face, an idiom used in various positive ways, probably based on the idea of a superior person permitting someone to look him in the eye.
- 1 Samuel 25:36 Lit heart.
- 1 Samuel 25:37 Lit the wine had gone out of.
- 1 Samuel 25:37 Nabal probably suffered a stroke.
- 1 Samuel 25:42 Lit walked at her feet.
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