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1 Samuel 25 :: New American Standard Bible 2020 (NASB20)

Samuel’s Death

1Sa 25:1

Then Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him at his house in Ramah. And David set out and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Nabal and Abigail

1Sa 25:2

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; and the man was very [fn]rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel

1Sa 25:3(now the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was [fn]intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite),
1Sa 25:4that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
1Sa 25:5So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel and [fn]visit Nabal, and greet him in my name;
1Sa 25:6and this is what you shall say: ‘[fn]Have a long life, peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!
1Sa 25:7‘Now then, I have heard that you have shearers. Now, your shepherds have been with us; we have not harmed them, nor has anything of theirs gone missing all the days they were in Carmel.
1Sa 25:8‘Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a [fn]festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
1Sa 25:9

When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal in accordance with all these words in David’s name; then they waited.

1Sa 25:10But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master.
1Sa 25:11“Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men [fn]whose origin I do not know?”
1Sa 25:12So David’s young men made their way back and returned; and they came and informed him in accordance with all these words.
1Sa 25:13Then David said to his men, “Each of you strap on his sword.” So each man strapped on his sword. And David also strapped on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David, while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
1Sa 25:14

Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to [fn]greet our master, and he spoke to them in anger.

1Sa 25:15“Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, nor did anything go missing [fn]as long as we went with them, while we were in the fields.
1Sa 25:16“They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep.
1Sa 25:17“Now then, be aware and [fn]consider what you should do, because harm is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a [fn]worthless man that no one can speak to him.”

Abigail Intercedes

1Sa 25:18

Then Abigail hurried and 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 cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she loaded them on donkeys.

1Sa 25:19Then she said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
1Sa 25:20And it happened 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.
1Sa 25:21Now David had said, “It is certainly for nothing that I have guarded everything that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing has gone missing of all that belonged to him! For he has returned me evil for good.
1Sa 25:22“May God do so to the enemies of David, and more so, if by morning I leave alive as much as one [fn]male of any who belong to him.”
1Sa 25:23

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face in front of David and bowed herself to the ground.

1Sa 25:24She fell at his feet and said, “On me [fn]alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your slave speak [fn]to you, and listen to the words of your slave.
1Sa 25:25“Please do not let my lord [fn]pay attention to this [fn]worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. [fn]Nabal is his name, and stupidity is with him; but I your slave did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
1Sa 25:26

“Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, since the LORD has restrained you from [fn]shedding blood, and from [fn]avenging yourself by your own hand, now then, may your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be like Nabal.

1Sa 25:27“And now let this [fn]gift which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who [fn]accompany my lord.
1Sa 25:28“Please forgive the offense of your slave; for the LORD will certainly make for my lord an [fn]enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil will not be found in you all your days.
1Sa 25:29“Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your [fn]life, then the [fn]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the [fn]lives of your enemies He will sling out [fn]as from the hollow of a sling.
1Sa 25:30“And when the LORD does for my lord in accordance with all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel,
1Sa 25:31this will not become an obstacle to you, or a [fn]troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord’s having [fn]avenged himself. When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your slave.”
1Sa 25:32

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

1Sa 25:33and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from [fn]bloodshed and from [fn]avenging myself by my own hand.
1Sa 25:34“Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, there certainly would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one [fn]male.”
1Sa 25:35So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to [fn]you and [fn]granted your request.”
1Sa 25:36

Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was cheerful within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything [fn]at all until the morning light.

1Sa 25:37But 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 like a stone.
1Sa 25:38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.

David Marries Abigail

1Sa 25:39

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of the shame inflicted on me by the hand of Nabal, and has kept back His servant from evil. The LORD has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent [fn]a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

1Sa 25:40When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”
1Sa 25:41And she got up and bowed with her face to the ground, and said, “Behold, your slave is a servant to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”
1Sa 25:42Then Abigail got up quickly, and rode on a donkey, with her five female attendants who [fn]accompanied her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
1Sa 25:43

David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives.

1Sa 25:44

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

NASB20 Footnotes
Lit great
Lit of good understanding
Lit come to
Lit To life
Lit good
Lit from where they are
Lit bless
Lit all the days
Lit see
Lit son of Belial
Lit who urinates against the wall
Lit myself
Lit in your ears
Lit set his heart to
Lit man of Belial
I.e., fool
Lit coming in with blood
Lit helping
Lit blessing
Lit walk at the feet of
Or permanent
Lit soul
Lit soul
Lit soul
Lit in the midst of
Lit stumbling of heart
Lit helped
Lit coming into blood
Lit helping
Lit who urinates against the wall
Lit your voice
Lit lifted up your face
Lit small or large
Lit and spoke
Lit walked at her feet
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1 Samuel Chapter 25 — Additional Translations: