1Sa 25:1And Samuel died, and all Israel [fn]assembled, and bewailed him, and they bury him in his house in [fn]Armathaim: and David arose, and went down to the wilderness of [fn]Maon.
1Sa 25:2And there was a man in Maon, and his flocks were in Carmel, and he was a very great man; and he had [fn]three thousand sheep, and a thousand she-goats: and he happened to be shearing his flock in Carmel.
1Sa 25:3And the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigaia: and his wife was of good understanding and very beautiful in person: but the man was harsh and evil in his doings, and the man was churlish.
1Sa 25:7And now, behold, I have heard that thy shepherds who were with us in the wilderness are shearing [fn]thy sheep, and we hindered them not, neither did we demand any thing from them all the time they were in Carmel.
1Sa 25:8Ask thy servants, and they will tell thee. Let then thy servants find grace in thine eyes, for we are come on a good day; give, we pray thee, whatsoever thy hand may find, to thy son David.
1Sa 25:10And Nabal sprang up, and answered the servants of David, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jessæ? now-a-days there is abundance of servants who depart every one from his master.
1Sa 25:11And shall I take my bread, and my wine, and my [fn]beasts that I have slain for [fn]my shearers, and shall I give them to men of whom I know not whence they are?
1Sa 25:13And David said to his men, Gird on every man his sword. [fn]And they went up after David, about four hundred men: and two hundred abode with the stuff.
1Sa 25:14And one of the servants reported to Abigaia the wife of Nabal, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our lord; but he turned away from them.
1Sa 25:16And when we were in the field, they were as a wall round about us, both by night and by day, all the days that we were with them feeding the flock.
1Sa 25:17And now do thou consider, and see what thou wilt do; for mischief is determined against our lord and against his house; and he is a vile character, and one cannot speak to him.
1Sa 25:18And Abigaia hasted, and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five ephahs of fine flour, and one homer of dried grapes, and two hundred cakes of figs, and put them upon asses.
1Sa 25:20And it came to pass when she had mounted her ass and was going down by the covert of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down to meet her, and she met them.
1Sa 25:21And David said, Perhaps I have kept all his possessions in the wilderness that he should wrong me, and we did not order the taking any thing of all his goods; yet he has rewarded me evil for good.
1Sa 25:23And Abigaia saw David, and she hasted, and alighted from her ass; and she fell before David on her face, and did obeisance to him, bowing to the ground
1Sa 25:24[fn]even to his feet, and said, On me, my lord, be my wrong: let, I pray thee, thy servant speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy servant.
1Sa 25:25Let not my lord, I pray thee, take to heart this pestilent man, [fn]for according to his name, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thy handmaid saw not the servants of my lord whom thou didst send.
1Sa 25:26And now, my lord, as the Lord lives, and thy soul lives, as the Lord has kept thee from coming against innocent blood, and [fn]from executing vengeance for thyself, now therefore let thine enemies, and those that seek evil against my lord, become as Nabal.
1Sa 25:27And now accept this [fn]token of goodwill, which thy servant has brought to my lord, and thou shalt give it to the servants that wait on my lord.
1Sa 25:28Remove, I pray thee, the trespass of thy servant; for the Lord will surely make for my lord a sure house, for the Lord fights the battles of my lord, and there shall no evil be ever found in thee.
1Sa 25:29And if a man shall rise up persecuting thee and seeking thy life, yet shall the life of my lord be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord God, and thou shalt whirl the life of thine enemies as in the midst of a sling.
1Sa 25:30And it shall be when the Lord shall have wrought for my lord all the good things he has spoken concerning thee, and shall appoint thee to be ruler over Israel;
1Sa 25:31then this shall not be an abomination and offence to my lord, to have shed innocent blood without cause, and for my lord to have avenged himself: and so may the Lord do good to my lord, and thou shalt remember thine handmaid to do her good.
1Sa 25:34But surely as the Lord God of Israel lives, who hindered me this day from doing thee harm, if thou hadst not hasted and come to meet me, then I said, There shall surely not be left to Nabal till the morning one male.
1Sa 25:35And David took of her hand all that she brought to him, and said to her, Go in peace to thy house: see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and accepted thy [fn]petition.
1Sa 25:36And Abigaia came to Nabal: and, behold, he had a banquet in his house, as the banquet of a king, and the heart of Nabal was merry [fn]within him, and he was very drunken: and she told him nothing great or small till the morning light.
1Sa 25:37And it came to pass in the morning, when Nabal recovered from his wine, his wife told him these words; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
1Sa 25:39And David heard it [fn]and said, Blessed be the Lord, who has judged the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and has delivered his servant [fn]from the power of evil; and the Lord has returned the mischief of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and spoke concerning Abigaia, to take her to himself for a wife.
1Sa 25:41And she arose, and did reverence with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy servant is for an handmaid to wash the feet of thy servants.
