Samuel’s Death

25 ^(A)Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and ^(B)mourned for him, and ^(C)buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the ^(D)wilderness of Paran.

Nabal and Abigail

² Now there was a man in ^(E)Maon whose business was in ^(F)Carmel; and the man was very ^[a]rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while ^(G)he was shearing his sheep in Carmel ³ (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his ^(H)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 ^(I)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, ^[c]visit Nabal and greet him in my name; ⁶ and thus you shall say, ‘^[d]Have a long life, ^(J)peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ Now I have heard ^(K)that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, ^(L)nor have they missed anything 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 ^(M)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 according to all these words in David’s name; then they waited. ¹⁰ But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “^(N)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 ^(O)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 retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. ¹³ David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about ^(P)four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred ^(Q)stayed with the baggage.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to ^[g](R)greet our master, and he scorned them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ^(S)insulted, nor did we miss anything ^[h]as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. ^16 (T)They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore, know and ^[i]consider what you should do, for evil 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 ^(U)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 clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ She said to her young men, “^(V)Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ It came about 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, “Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has ^(W)returned me evil for good. ^22 (X)May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, ^(Y)if by morning I leave 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 before David ^(Z)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 maidservant speak ^[m]to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. 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 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, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from ^[q]shedding blood, and ^(AA)from ^[r]avenging yourself by your own hand, now then ^(AB)let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. ²⁷ Now let ^(AC)this ^[s]gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who ^[t]accompany my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive ^(AD)the transgression of your maidservant; for ^(AE)the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is ^(AF)fighting the battles of the Lord, and ^(AG)evil will not be found in you all your days. ²⁹ Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your ^[u]life, then the ^[v]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the ^[w]lives of your enemies ^(AH)He will sling out ^[x]as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰ And when the Lord does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and ^(AI)appoints you ruler over Israel, ³¹ this will not ^[y]cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having ^[z]avenged himself. ^(AJ)When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

³² Then David said to Abigail, “^(AK)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, ^(AL)who have kept me this day from ^[aa]bloodshed and from ^[ab]avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴ Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, ^(AM)who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one ^[ac]male.” ³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “^(AN)Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to ^[ad]you and ^[ae](AO)granted your request.”

³⁶ Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding ^(AP)a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, ^(AQ)for he was very drunk; so ^(AR)she did not tell him anything ^[af]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 as a stone. ³⁸ About ten days later, ^(AS)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 ^(AT)pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and ^(AU)has kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent ^[ag](AV)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 as his wife.” ⁴¹ She arose ^(AW)and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is a maid ^(AX)to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴² Then ^(AY)Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who ^[ah]attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

⁴³ David had also taken Ahinoam of ^(AZ)Jezreel, and ^(BA)they both became his wives.

⁴⁴ Now Saul had given ^(BB)Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from ^(BC)Gallim.

Shin.

Family Relationships

6 ^(A)Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ^2 (B)Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), ³ so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

^4 (C)Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but ^(D)bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

^5 (E)Slaves, be obedient to those who are your ^[a]masters according to the flesh, with ^(F)fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, ^(G)as to Christ; ^6 (H)not ^[b]by way of eyeservice, as ^(I)men-pleasers, but as ^(J)slaves of Christ, ^(K)doing the will of God from the ^[c]heart. ⁷ With good will ^[d]render service, ^(L)as to the Lord, and not to men, ^8 (M)knowing that ^(N)whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, ^(O)whether slave or free.

⁹ And masters, do the same things to them, and ^(P)give up threatening, knowing that ^(Q)both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is ^(R)no partiality with Him.

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, ^(S)be strong in the Lord and in ^(T)the strength of His might. ^11 (U)Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the ^(V)schemes of the devil. ¹² For our ^(W)struggle is not against ^[e](X)flesh and blood, but ^(Y)against the rulers, against the powers, against the ^(Z)world forces of this ^(AA)darkness, against the ^(AB)spiritual forces of wickedness in ^(AC)the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore, take up ^(AD)the full armor of God, so that you will be able to ^(AE)resist in ^(AF)the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand firm therefore, ^(AG)having girded your loins with truth, and having ^(AH)put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having ^(AI)shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ^16 [f]in addition to all, taking up the ^(AJ)shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the ^(AK)flaming arrows of ^(AL)the evil one. ¹⁷ And take ^(AM)the helmet of salvation, and the ^(AN)sword of the Spirit, which is ^(AO)the word of God.

^18 [g]With all ^(AP)prayer and petition ^[h](AQ)pray at all times ^(AR)in the Spirit, and with this in view, ^[i](AS)be on the alert with all ^(AT)perseverance and ^(AU)petition for all the saints, ¹⁹ and ^(AV)pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me ^(AW)in the opening of my mouth, to make known with ^(AX)boldness ^(AY)the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ^(AZ)ambassador ^(BA)in ^[j]chains; that ^[k]in proclaiming it I may speak ^(BB)boldly, ^(BC)as I ought to speak.

^21 (BD)But that you also may know about my circumstances, ^[l]how I am doing, ^(BE)Tychicus, ^(BF)the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. ^22 [m](BG)I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know ^[n]about us, and that he may ^(BH)comfort your hearts.

^23 (BI)Peace be to the brethren, and ^(BJ)love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ ^[o]with incorruptible love.