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1 Samuel 25:2-44
New English Translation

David Marries Abigail the Widow of Nabal

2 There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. This man was very wealthy;[a] he owned 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 The man’s name was Nabal,[b] and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was both wise[c] and beautiful, but the man was harsh and his deeds were evil. He was a Calebite.

4 When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5 he[d] sent ten servants,[e] saying to them,[f] “Go up to Carmel to see Nabal and give him greetings in my name.[g] 6 Then you will say to my brother,[h] ‘Peace to you and your house! Peace to all that is yours! 7 Now I hear that they are shearing sheep for you. When your shepherds were with us, we neither insulted them nor harmed them the whole time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your own servants; they can tell you! May my servants find favor in your sight, for we have come[i] at the time of a holiday. Please provide us—your servants[j] and your son David—with whatever you can spare.’”[k]

9 So David’s servants went and spoke all these words to Nabal in David’s name. Then they paused. 10 But Nabal responded to David’s servants, “Who is David, and who is this son of Jesse? This is a time when many servants are breaking away from their masters! 11 Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give them to these men? I don’t even know where they came from!”

12 So David’s servants went on their way. When they had returned, they came and told David[l] all these things. 13 Then David instructed his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About 400 men followed David, while 200 stayed behind with the equipment.

14 But one of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet[m] our lord, but he screamed at them. 15 These men were very good to us. They did not insult us, nor did we sustain any loss during the entire time we were together[n] in the field. 16 Both night and day they were a protective wall for us the entire time we were with them, while we were tending our flocks. 17 Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household.[o] He is such a wicked person[p] that no one tells him anything!”

18 So Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, two containers[q] of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs[r] of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19 and said to her servants, “Go on ahead of me. I will come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 Riding on her donkey, she went down under cover of the mountain. David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them. 21 Now David had been thinking,[s] “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil. 22 God will severely punish David,[t] if I leave alive until morning even one male[u] from all those who belong to him!”

23 When Abigail saw David, she got down quickly from the donkey, threw herself facedown before David, and bowed to the ground. 24 Falling at his feet, she said, “My lord, I accept all the guilt! But please let your female servant speak to you! Please listen to the words of your servant! 25 My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means ‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish![v] But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent.[w]

26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, it is the Lord who has kept you from shedding blood and taking matters into your own hands. Now may your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal. 27 Now let this present[x] that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the servants who follow[y] my lord. 28 Please forgive the sin of your servant, for the Lord will certainly establish a lasting dynasty for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. May no evil be found in you all your days! 29 When someone sets out to chase you and to take your life, the life of my lord will be wrapped securely in the bag[z] of the living by the Lord your God. But he will sling away the lives of your enemies from the sling’s pocket! 30 The Lord will do for my lord everything that he promised you,[aa] and he will make[ab] you a leader over Israel. 31 Your conscience will not be overwhelmed with guilt[ac] for having poured out innocent blood and for having taken matters into your own hands. When the Lord has granted my lord success,[ad] please remember your servant.”

32 Then David said to Abigail, “Praised[ae] be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you this day to meet me! 33 Praised be your good judgment! May you yourself be rewarded[af] for having prevented me this day from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands! 34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—he who has prevented me from harming you—if you had not come so quickly to meet me, by morning’s light not even one male belonging to Nabal would have remained alive!” 35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him. He said to her, “Go back[ag] to your home in peace. Be assured that I have listened to you[ah] and responded favorably.”[ai]

36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time[aj] and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing[ak] until morning’s light. 37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober,[al] his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed.[am] 38 After about ten days the Lord struck Nabal down and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, “Praised be the Lord who has vindicated me and avenged the insult that I suffered from Nabal![an] The Lord has kept his servant from doing evil, and he has repaid Nabal for his evil deeds.”[ao] Then David sent word to Abigail and asked her to become his wife.

40 So the servants of David went to Abigail at Carmel and said to her, “David has sent us to you to bring you back to be his wife.” 41 She arose, bowed her face toward the ground, and said, “Your female servant, like a lowly servant, will wash[ap] the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 Then Abigail quickly went and mounted her donkey, with five of her female servants accompanying her.[aq] She followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

43 David had also married[ar] Ahinoam from Jezreel; the two of them became his wives. 44 (Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 25:2 tn Heb “great.”
  2. 1 Samuel 25:3 sn The name נָבָל (Nabal) means “foolish” or “senseless” in Hebrew, and as an adjective the word is used especially of persons who have no perception of ethical or religious claims. It is an apt name for this character, who certainly typifies such behavior.
  3. 1 Samuel 25:3 tn Heb “good of insight”; KJV “of good understanding”; NAB, NIV, TEV “intelligent”; NRSV “clever.”
  4. 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Heb “David”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun has been used in the translation.
  5. 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Or “young men.”
  6. 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Heb “and David said to the young men.”
  7. 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Heb “and inquire concerning him in my name in regard to peace.”
  8. 1 Samuel 25:6 tc The text is difficult here. The MT and most of the early versions support the reading לֶחָי (lekhai, “to life,” or “to the one who lives”). Some of the older English versions (KJV, ASV; cf. NKJV) took the expression to mean “to him who lives (in prosperity),” but this translation requires reading a good deal into the words. While the expression could have the sense of “Long life to you!” (cf. NIV, NJPS) or perhaps “Good luck to you!” this seems somewhat redundant in light of the salutation that follows in the context. The Latin Vulgate has fratribus meis (“to my brothers”), which suggests that Jerome understood the Hebrew word to have an ʾalef that is absent in the MT (i.e., לֶאֱחָי, leʾekhay). Jerome’s plural, however, remains a problem, since in the context David is addressing a single individual, namely Nabal, and not a group. However, it is likely that the Vulgate witnesses to a consonantal Hebrew text that is to be preferred here, especially if the word were to be revocalized as a singular rather than a plural. While it is impossible to be certain about this reading, the present translation essentially follows the Vulgate in reading “my brother” (so also NJB; cf. NAB, RSV, NRSV).
  9. 1 Samuel 25:8 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בָּאנוּ (baʾnu, “we have come”) rather than the MT’s בָּנוּ (banu, “we have built”).
  10. 1 Samuel 25:8 tn This refers to the ten servants sent by David.
  11. 1 Samuel 25:8 tn Heb “whatever your hand will find.”
  12. 1 Samuel 25:12 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  13. 1 Samuel 25:14 tn Heb “bless.”
  14. 1 Samuel 25:15 tn Heb “all the days we walked about with them when we were.”
  15. 1 Samuel 25:17 tn Heb “all his house” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “his whole family.”
  16. 1 Samuel 25:17 tn Heb “he is a son of worthlessness.”
  17. 1 Samuel 25:18 tn Heb “skins.”
  18. 1 Samuel 25:18 sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.
  19. 1 Samuel 25:21 tn Heb “said.”
  20. 1 Samuel 25:22 tc Heb “Thus God will do to the enemies of David and thus he will add.” Most of the Old Greek ms tradition has simply “David,” with no reference to his enemies. In OT imprecations such as the one found in v. 22 it is common for the speaker to direct malediction toward himself as an indication of the seriousness with which he regards the matter at hand. In other words, the speaker invites on himself dire consequences if he fails to fulfill the matter expressed in the oath. However, in the situation alluded to in v. 22 the threat actually does not come to fruition due to the effectiveness of Abigail’s appeal to David on behalf of her husband Nabal. Instead, David is placated through Abigail’s intervention. It therefore seems likely that the reference to “the enemies of David” in the MT of v. 22 is the result of a scribal attempt to deliver David from the implied consequences of this oath. The present translation follows the LXX rather than the MT here.
  21. 1 Samuel 25:22 tn Heb “one who urinates against a wall” (also in v. 34); KJV “any that pisseth against the wall.” At first this may seem to be a vulgar phrase because it refers to a bodily function and David is angry. But David uses the same phrase when he speaks in a conciliatory way to Abigail in v. 34. There is no clear point to his using a vulgar phrase in that context. Similarly for the narrator in 1 Kgs 16:11 and the Lord’s oracles in 1 Kgs 14:10; 21:21; 2 Kgs 9:8, any rhetorical reason for vulgarity is unclear. The phrase refers to males, is not with certainty crude, and the addition of the phrase “at a wall” does not communicate well in the modern setting. We we have chosen to simply use “male” for this phrase.
  22. 1 Samuel 25:25 tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”
  23. 1 Samuel 25:25 tn Heb “my lord’s servants, whom you sent.”
  24. 1 Samuel 25:27 tn Heb “blessing.”
  25. 1 Samuel 25:27 tn Heb “are walking at the feet of.”
  26. 1 Samuel 25:29 tn Cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “bundle”; NLT “treasure pouch.”
  27. 1 Samuel 25:30 tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”
  28. 1 Samuel 25:30 tn Heb “appoint.”
  29. 1 Samuel 25:31 tn Heb “and this will not be for you for staggering and for stumbling of the heart of my lord.”
  30. 1 Samuel 25:31 tn Heb “and the Lord will do well for my lord.”
  31. 1 Samuel 25:32 tn Heb “blessed” (also in vv. 33, 39).
  32. 1 Samuel 25:33 tn Heb “blessed.”
  33. 1 Samuel 25:35 tn Heb “up.”
  34. 1 Samuel 25:35 tn Heb “your voice.”
  35. 1 Samuel 25:35 tn Heb “I have lifted up your face.”
  36. 1 Samuel 25:36 tn Heb “and the heart of Nabal was good upon him”; NASB, NRSV “Nabal’s heart was merry within him”; NIV “he was in high spirits”; NCV, TEV “was in a good mood”; CEV “was very drunk and feeling good.”
  37. 1 Samuel 25:36 tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”
  38. 1 Samuel 25:37 tn Heb “when the wine had gone out from Nabal.”
  39. 1 Samuel 25:37 tn Heb “and his heart died within him and he became a stone.” Cf. TEV, NLT “stroke”; CEV “heart attack.” For an alternative interpretation than that presented above, see Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle, “The Law of the Heart: The Death of a Fool (1 Samuel 25),” JBL 120 (2001): 401-27, who argues that a medical diagnosis is not necessary here. Instead, the passage makes a connection between the heart and the law; Nabal dies for his lawlessness.
  40. 1 Samuel 25:39 tn Heb “who has argued the case of my insult from the hand of Nabal.”
  41. 1 Samuel 25:39 tn Heb “his servant he has held back from evil, and the evil of Nabal the Lord has turned back on his head.”
  42. 1 Samuel 25:41 tn Heb “Here is your maidservant, for a lowly servant to wash.”
  43. 1 Samuel 25:42 tn Heb “going at her feet.”
  44. 1 Samuel 25:43 tn Heb “taken.”
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1 Samuel 25:2-44
New American Standard Bible

Nabal and Abigail

2 Now there was a man in (A)Maon whose business was in (B)Carmel; and the man was very [a]rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while (C)he was shearing his sheep in Carmel 3 (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his (D)wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was [b]intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was (E)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 and [c]visit Nabal, and greet him in my name; 6 and this is what you shall say: ‘[d]Have a long life, (F)peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! 7 Now then, I have heard (G)that you have shearers. Now, your shepherds have been with us; we have not harmed them, (H)nor has anything of theirs gone missing 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 (I)a [e]festive day. 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 in accordance with all these words in David’s name; then they waited. 10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “(J)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 (K)take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men [f]whose origin I do not know?” 12 So David’s young men made their way back and returned; and they came and informed him in accordance with all these words. 13 Then David said to his men, “Each of you strap on his sword.” So each man strapped on his sword. And David also strapped on his sword, and about (L)four hundred men went up behind David, while two hundred (M)stayed with the baggage.

14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to [g](N)greet our master, and he spoke to them in anger. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not (O)harmed, nor did anything go missing [h]as long as we went with them, while we were in the fields. 16 (P)They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. 17 Now then, be aware and [i]consider what you should do, because harm is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a [j]worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes

18 Then Abigail hurried and (Q)took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine, and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain, and a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she said to her young men, “(R)Go on ahead of me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 And it happened 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; so she met them. 21 Now David had said, “It is certainly for nothing that I have guarded everything that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing has gone missing of all that belonged to him! For he has (S)returned me evil for good. 22 (T)May God do so to the enemies of David, and more so, (U)if by morning I leave alive as much as one [k]male of any who belong to him.”

23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face in front of David (V)and bowed herself to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me [l]alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your slave speak [m]to you, and listen to the words of your slave. 25 Please do not let my lord [n]pay attention to this [o]worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. [p]Nabal is his name, and stupidity is with him; but I your slave did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

26 “Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from [q]shedding blood, and (W)from [r]avenging yourself by your own hand, now then, (X)may your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be like Nabal. 27 And now let (Y)this [s]gift which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who [t]accompany my lord. 28 Please forgive (Z)the offense of your slave; for (AA)the Lord will certainly make for my lord an [u]enduring house, because my lord is (AB)fighting the battles of the Lord, and (AC)evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your [v]life, then the [w]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the [x]lives of your enemies (AD)He will sling out [y]as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And when the Lord does for my lord in accordance with all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and (AE)appoints you ruler over Israel, 31 this will not become an obstacle to you, or a [z]troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord’s having [aa]avenged himself. (AF)When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your slave.”

32 Then David said to Abigail, “(AG)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, 33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, (AH)who have kept me this day from [ab]bloodshed and from [ac]avenging myself by my own hand. 34 Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, (AI)who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, there certainly would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one [ad]male.” 35 So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “(AJ)Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to [ae]you and [af](AK)granted your request.”

36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having (AL)a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was cheerful within him, (AM)for he was very drunk; so (AN)she did not tell him anything [ag]at all 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 like a stone. 38 About ten days later, (AO)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 (AP)pleaded the cause of the shame inflicted on me by the hand of Nabal, and (AQ)has kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent [ah](AR)a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41 And she got up (AS)and bowed with her face to the ground, and said, “Behold, your slave is a servant (AT)to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Then (AU)Abigail got up quickly, and rode on a donkey, with her five female attendants who [ai]accompanied her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

43 David had also taken Ahinoam of (AV)Jezreel, and (AW)they both became his wives.

44 But Saul had given his daughter (AX)Michal, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from (AY)Gallim.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 25:2 Lit great
  2. 1 Samuel 25:3 Lit of good understanding
  3. 1 Samuel 25:5 Lit come to
  4. 1 Samuel 25:6 Lit To life
  5. 1 Samuel 25:8 Lit good
  6. 1 Samuel 25:11 Lit from where they are
  7. 1 Samuel 25:14 Lit bless
  8. 1 Samuel 25:15 Lit all the days
  9. 1 Samuel 25:17 Lit see
  10. 1 Samuel 25:17 Lit son of Belial
  11. 1 Samuel 25:22 Lit who urinates against the wall
  12. 1 Samuel 25:24 Lit myself
  13. 1 Samuel 25:24 Lit in your ears
  14. 1 Samuel 25:25 Lit set his heart to
  15. 1 Samuel 25:25 Lit man of Belial
  16. 1 Samuel 25:25 I.e., fool
  17. 1 Samuel 25:26 Lit coming in with blood
  18. 1 Samuel 25:26 Lit helping
  19. 1 Samuel 25:27 Lit blessing
  20. 1 Samuel 25:27 Lit walk at the feet of
  21. 1 Samuel 25:28 Or permanent
  22. 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit soul
  23. 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit soul
  24. 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit soul
  25. 1 Samuel 25:29 Lit in the midst of
  26. 1 Samuel 25:31 Lit stumbling of heart
  27. 1 Samuel 25:31 Lit helped
  28. 1 Samuel 25:33 Lit coming into blood
  29. 1 Samuel 25:33 Lit helping
  30. 1 Samuel 25:34 Lit who urinates against the wall
  31. 1 Samuel 25:35 Lit your voice
  32. 1 Samuel 25:35 Lit lifted up your face
  33. 1 Samuel 25:36 Lit small or large
  34. 1 Samuel 25:39 Lit and spoke
  35. 1 Samuel 25:42 Lit walked at her feet
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