1 Samuel 24-26

New American Standard Bible 1995

David Spares Saul’s Life

24 Now ^(A)when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, ^(B)he was told, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” ² Then ^(C)Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. ³ He came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul ^(D)went in to ^[a]relieve himself. Now ^(E)David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. ⁴ The men of David said to him, “Behold, ^(F)this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold; ^(G)I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good ^[b]to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. ⁵ It came about afterward that ^(H)David’s ^[c]conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. ⁶ So he said to his men, “^(I)Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” ⁷ David ^[d]persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, ^[e]left the cave, and went on his way.

⁸ Now afterward David arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, ^(J)David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself. ⁹ David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks ^[f]to harm you’? ^10 (K)Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord had given you today into my hand in the cave, and ^(L)some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ¹¹ Now, ^(M)my father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the edge of your robe and did not kill you, know and perceive that there is no evil or ^[g]rebellion in my hands, and I have not sinned against you, though you ^(N)are lying in wait for my life to take it. ^12 (O)May the Lord judge between ^[h]you and me, and may the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you. ¹³ As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘^(P)Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness’; but my hand shall not be against you. ¹⁴ After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? ^(Q)A dead dog, ^(R)a single flea? ^15 (S)The Lord therefore be judge and decide between ^[i]you and me; and may He see and ^(T)plead my cause and ^[j]deliver me from your hand.”

¹⁶ When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “^(U)Is this your voice, my son David?” Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept. ^17 (V)He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for ^(W)you have dealt well with me, while I have dealt wickedly with you. ¹⁸ You have declared today that you have done good to me, that ^(X)the Lord delivered me into your hand and yet you did not kill me. ¹⁹ For if a man ^(Y)finds his enemy, will he let him go away ^[k]safely? May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day. ²⁰ Now, behold, ^(Z)I know that you will surely be king, and that ^(AA)the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. ²¹ So now ^(AB)swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my ^[l]descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s household.” ²² David swore to Saul. And Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to ^(AC)the stronghold.

Samuel’s Death

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

Nabal and Abigail

² Now there was a man in ^(AH)Maon whose business was in ^(AI)Carmel; and the man was very ^[m]rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while ^(AJ)he was shearing his sheep in Carmel ³ (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his ^(AK)wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was ^[n]intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was ^(AL)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, ^[o]visit Nabal and greet him in my name; ⁶ and thus you shall say, ‘^[p]Have a long life, ^(AM)peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ Now I have heard ^(AN)that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, ^(AO)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 ^(AP)a ^[q]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, “^(AQ)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 ^(AR)take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men ^[r]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 ^(AS)four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred ^(AT)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 ^[s](AU)greet our master, and he scorned them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not ^(AV)insulted, nor did we miss anything ^[t]as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. ^16 (AW)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 ^[u]consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a ^[v]worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes

¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and ^(AX)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, “^(AY)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 ^(AZ)returned me evil for good. ^22 (BA)May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, ^(BB)if by morning I leave as much as one ^[w]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 ^(BC)and bowed herself to the ground. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “On me ^[x]alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak ^[y]to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. ²⁵ Please do not let my lord ^[z]pay attention to this ^[aa]worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. ^[ab]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 ^[ac]shedding blood, and ^(BD)from ^[ad]avenging yourself by your own hand, now then ^(BE)let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. ²⁷ Now let ^(BF)this ^[ae]gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who ^[af]accompany my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive ^(BG)the transgression of your maidservant; for ^(BH)the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is ^(BI)fighting the battles of the Lord, and ^(BJ)evil will not be found in you all your days. ²⁹ Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your ^[ag]life, then the ^[ah]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the ^[ai]lives of your enemies ^(BK)He will sling out ^[aj]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 ^(BL)appoints you ruler over Israel, ³¹ this will not ^[ak]cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having ^[al]avenged himself. ^(BM)When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

³² Then David said to Abigail, “^(BN)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, ^(BO)who have kept me this day from ^[am]bloodshed and from ^[an]avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴ Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, ^(BP)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 ^[ao]male.” ³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “^(BQ)Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to ^[ap]you and ^[aq](BR)granted your request.”

³⁶ Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding ^(BS)a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, ^(BT)for he was very drunk; so ^(BU)she did not tell him anything ^[ar]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, ^(BV)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 ^(BW)pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and ^(BX)has kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent ^[as](BY)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 ^(BZ)and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your maidservant is a maid ^(CA)to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴² Then ^(CB)Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who ^[at]attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

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

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

David Again Spares Saul

26 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “^(CG)Is not David hiding on the hill of Hachilah, which is before ^[au]Jeshimon?” ² So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having with him ^(CH)three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph. ³ Saul camped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before ^[av]Jeshimon, ^(CI)beside the road, and David was staying in the wilderness. When ^(CJ)he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, ⁴ David sent out spies, and he knew that Saul was definitely coming. ⁵ David then arose and came to the place where Saul had camped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and ^(CK)Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army; and Saul was lying in the circle of the camp, and the people were camped around him.

⁶ Then David said to Ahimelech ^(CL)the Hittite and to ^(CM)Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, saying, “Who ^(CN)will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷ So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him. ⁸ Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand; now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear ^[aw]to the ground with one stroke, and I will not ^[ax]strike him the second time.” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for ^(CO)who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be without guilt?” ¹⁰ David also said, “As the Lord lives, ^(CP)surely the Lord will strike him, or ^(CQ)his day will come that he dies, or ^(CR)he will go down into battle and perish. ^11 (CS)The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head and the jug of water, and let us go.” ¹² So David took the spear and the jug of water from beside Saul’s head, and they went away, but no one saw or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because ^(CT)a sound sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

¹³ Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance with a large area between them. ¹⁴ David called to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?” ¹⁵ So David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy the king your lord. ¹⁶ This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, all of you ^[ay](CU)must surely die, because you did not guard your lord, the Lord’s anointed. And now, see where the king’s spear is and the jug of water that was at his head.”

¹⁷ Then Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “^(CV)Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord the king.” ¹⁸ He also said, “^(CW)Why then is my lord pursuing his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand? ¹⁹ Now therefore, please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant. If ^(CX)the Lord has stirred you up against me, ^(CY)let Him ^[az]accept an offering; but ^(CZ)if it is ^[ba]men, cursed are they before the Lord, for ^(DA)they have driven me out today so that I would have no attachment with the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ ²⁰ Now then, do not let my blood fall to the ground away from the presence of the Lord; for the king of Israel has come out to search for ^(DB)a single flea, just as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹ Then Saul said, “^(DC)I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again because my life was precious in your sight this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have committed a serious error.” ²² David replied, “Behold the spear of the king! Now let one of the young men come over and take it. ^23 (DD)The Lord will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but ^(DE)I refused to stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. ²⁴ Now behold, as your life was ^(DF)highly valued in my sight this day, so may my life be highly valued in the sight of the Lord, and may He ^(DG)deliver me from all distress.” ²⁵ Then Saul said to David, “^(DH)Blessed are you, my son David; you will both accomplish much and surely prevail.” So ^(DI)David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.