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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Samuel 25 :: Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

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David, Nabal, and Abigail
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:1 -

Samuel died, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, and they buried him by his home in Ramah. David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran.[fn]

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:2 -

A man in Maon had a business in Carmel; he was a very rich man with three thousand sheep and one thousand goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:3 -

The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:4 -

While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:5 -

so David sent ten young men instructing them, “Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him[fn] in my name.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:6 -

“Then say this: ‘Long life to you,[fn] and peace to you, peace to your family, and peace to all that is yours.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:7 -

“I hear that you are shearing.[fn] When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:8 -

“Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a feast[fn] day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:9 -

David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf,[fn] and they waited.[fn]

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:10 -

Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? Many slaves these days are running away from their masters.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:11 -

“Am I supposed to take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to these men? I don’t know where they are from.”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:12 -

David’s young men retraced their steps. When they returned to him, they reported all these words.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:13 -

He said to his men, “All of you, put on your swords! ” So each man put on his sword, and David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:14 -

One of Nabal’s young men informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:15 -

“The men treated us very well. When we were in the field, we weren’t harassed and nothing of ours was missing the whole time we were living among them.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:16 -

“They were a wall around us, both day and night, the entire time we were with them herding the sheep.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:17 -

“Now consider carefully[fn] what you should do, because there is certain to be trouble for our master and his entire family. He is such a worthless fool nobody can talk to him! ”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:18 -

Abigail hurried, taking two hundred loaves of bread, two clay jars of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel[fn] of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:19 -

Then she said to her male servants, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband, Nabal.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:20 -

As she rode the donkey down a mountain pass hidden from view, she saw David and his men coming toward her and met them.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:21 -

David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:22 -

“May God punish me[fn] and do so severely if I let any of his males[fn] survive until morning.”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:23 -

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and knelt down with her face to the ground and paid homage to David.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:24 -

She knelt at his feet and said, “The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:25 -

“My lord should pay no attention to this worthless fool Nabal, for he lives up to his name:[fn] His name means ‘stupid,’ and stupidity is all he knows.[fn] I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:26 -

“Now my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live ​— ​it is the LORD who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself by your own hand—may your enemies and those who intend to harm my lord be like Nabal.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:27 -

“Let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:28 -

“Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord because he fights the LORD’s battles. Throughout your life, may evil[fn] not be found in you.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:29 -

“Someone is pursuing you and intends to take your life. My lord’s life is tucked safely in the place[fn] where the LORD your God protects the living, but he is flinging away your enemies’ lives like stones from a sling.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:30 -

“When the LORD does for my lord all the good he promised you and appoints you ruler over Israel,

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:31 -

“there will not be remorse or a troubled conscience for my lord because of needless bloodshed or my lord’s revenge. And when the LORD does good things for my lord, may you remember me your servant.”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:32 -

Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:33 -

“May your discernment be blessed, and may you be blessed. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:34 -

“Otherwise, as surely as the LORD God of Israel lives, who prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, Nabal wouldn’t have had any males[fn] left by morning light.”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:35 -

Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request.”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:36 -

Then Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. Nabal’s heart was cheerful,[fn] and he was very drunk, so she didn’t say anything[fn] to him until morning light.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:37 -

In the morning when Nabal sobered up,[fn] his wife told him about these events. His heart died[fn] and he became a stone.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:38 -

About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:39 -

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults and restrained his servant from doing evil. The LORD brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.”

Then David sent messengers to speak to Abigail about marrying him.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:40 -

When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:41 -

She stood up, paid homage with her face to the ground, and said, “Here I am, your servant, a slave to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:42 -

Then Abigail got up quickly, and with her five female servants accompanying her, rode on the donkey following David’s messengers. And so she became his wife.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:43 -

David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and the two of them became his wives.

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 25:44 -

But Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

CSB Footnotes
LXX reads to Maon
Or Nabal, ask him for peace
Lit ‘To life
Lit you have shearers
Lit good
Lit name
LXX reads and he became arrogant
Lit Now know and see
Lit sheep, five seahs
LXX; MT reads David’s enemies
Lit of those of his who are urinating against the wall
Lit for as is his name is, so he is
Lit and foolishness is with him
Or trouble
Lit bundle
Lit had anyone urinating against a wall
Lit Nabal’s heart was good on him
Lit anything at all
Lit when the wine had gone out of Nabal
Lit Then his heart died within him
CSB

Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017, 2020 by Holman Bible Publishers.

Additional information is provided here.

For more information on this translation, see the CSB Preface.

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1 Samuel Chapter 25 — Additional Translations: