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.)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 25:2 tn Heb “great.”
- 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.
- 1 Samuel 25:3 tn Heb “good of insight”; KJV “of good understanding”; NAB, NIV, TEV “intelligent”; NRSV “clever.”
- 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Heb “David”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun has been used in the translation.
- 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Or “young men.”
- 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Heb “and David said to the young men.”
- 1 Samuel 25:5 tn Heb “and inquire concerning him in my name in regard to peace.”
- 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).
- 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”).
- 1 Samuel 25:8 tn This refers to the ten servants sent by David.
- 1 Samuel 25:8 tn Heb “whatever your hand will find.”
- 1 Samuel 25:12 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Samuel 25:14 tn Heb “bless.”
- 1 Samuel 25:15 tn Heb “all the days we walked about with them when we were.”
- 1 Samuel 25:17 tn Heb “all his house” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “his whole family.”
- 1 Samuel 25:17 tn Heb “he is a son of worthlessness.”
- 1 Samuel 25:18 tn Heb “skins.”
- 1 Samuel 25:18 sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.
- 1 Samuel 25:21 tn Heb “said.”
- 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.
- 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.
- 1 Samuel 25:25 tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”
- 1 Samuel 25:25 tn Heb “my lord’s servants, whom you sent.”
- 1 Samuel 25:27 tn Heb “blessing.”
- 1 Samuel 25:27 tn Heb “are walking at the feet of.”
- 1 Samuel 25:29 tn Cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “bundle”; NLT “treasure pouch.”
- 1 Samuel 25:30 tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”
- 1 Samuel 25:30 tn Heb “appoint.”
- 1 Samuel 25:31 tn Heb “and this will not be for you for staggering and for stumbling of the heart of my lord.”
- 1 Samuel 25:31 tn Heb “and the Lord will do well for my lord.”
- 1 Samuel 25:32 tn Heb “blessed” (also in vv. 33, 39).
- 1 Samuel 25:33 tn Heb “blessed.”
- 1 Samuel 25:35 tn Heb “up.”
- 1 Samuel 25:35 tn Heb “your voice.”
- 1 Samuel 25:35 tn Heb “I have lifted up your face.”
- 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.”
- 1 Samuel 25:36 tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”
- 1 Samuel 25:37 tn Heb “when the wine had gone out from Nabal.”
- 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.
- 1 Samuel 25:39 tn Heb “who has argued the case of my insult from the hand of Nabal.”
- 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.”
- 1 Samuel 25:41 tn Heb “Here is your maidservant, for a lowly servant to wash.”
- 1 Samuel 25:42 tn Heb “going at her feet.”
- 1 Samuel 25:43 tn Heb “taken.”
1 Samuel 25:2-44
World English Bible
2 There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. 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. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. 4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6 Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have! 7 Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes; for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.’”
9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal all those words in the name of David, and waited.
10 Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days. 11 Shall I then take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don’t know where they come from?”
12 So David’s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him all these words.
13 David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!”
Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed by the baggage. 14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; and he insulted them. 15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields. 16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house; for he is such a worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him.”
18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs[a] of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal. 20 As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.
21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good. 22 God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”[b]
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet, and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant. 25 Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he. Nabal[c] is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men, whom you sent. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights Yahweh’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 Though men may rise up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies, as from the hollow of a sling. 30 It will come to pass, when Yahweh has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 that this shall 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. When Yahweh has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me! 33 Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For indeed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”[d]
35 So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice, and have granted your request.”
36 Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. 37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 About ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died. 39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. Yahweh has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife. 40 When David’s servants had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.”
41 She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies of hers who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives. 44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
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