-
And Samuel
died; and all the Israelites were gathered
together, and lamented him, and buried him in his
house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to
the wilderness of Paran.
02 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions
were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and
he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand
goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
03 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the
name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of
good understanding, and of a beautiful
countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in
his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
04 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal
did shear his sheep.
05 And David sent out ten young men, and David
said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel,
and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
06 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in
prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be
to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou
hast.
07 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers:
now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt
them not, neither was there ought missing unto
them, all the while they were in Carmel.
08 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee.
Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine
eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray
thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy
servants, and to thy son David.
09 And when David's young men came, they spake to
Nabal according to all those words in the name of
David, and ceased.
10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said,
Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there
be many servants now a days that break away every
man from his master.
11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and
my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and
give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?
12 So David's young men turned their way, and
went again, and came and told him all those
sayings.
13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every
man his sword. And they girded on every man his
sword; and David also girded on his sword: and
there went up after David about four hundred men;
and two hundred abode by the stuff.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's
wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out
of the wilderness to salute our master; and he
railed on them.
15 But the men were very good unto us, and we
were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as
long as we were conversant with them, when we
were in the fields:
16 They were a wall unto us both by night and
day, all the while we were with them keeping the
sheep.
17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt
do; for evil is determined against our master,
and against all his household: for he is such a
son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred
loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep
ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn,
and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two
hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before
me; behold, I come after you. But she told not
her husband Nabal.
20 And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that
she came down by the covert on the hill, and,
behold, David and his men came down against her;
and she met them.
21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept
all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so
that nothing was missed of all that pertained
unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
22 So and more also do God unto the enemies of
David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by
the morning light any that pisseth against the
wall.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and
lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her
face, and bowed herself to the ground,
__________________________________ |
24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my
lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine
handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience,
and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man
of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is
he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but
I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my
lord, whom thou didst send.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth,
and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath
withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and
from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now
let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my
lord, be as Nabal.
27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid
hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given
unto the young men that follow my lord.
28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine
handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my
lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the
battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found
in thee all thy days.
29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek
thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound
in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and
the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling
out, as out of the middle of a sling.
30 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall
have done to my lord according to all the good
that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall
have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor
offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou
hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath
avenged himself: but when the Lord shall have
dealt well with my lord, then remember thine
handmaid.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet
me:
33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be
thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to
shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine
own hand.
34 For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel
liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting
thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet
me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by
the morning light any that pisseth against the
wall.
35 So David received of her hand that which she
had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in
peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to
thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he
held a feast in his house, like the feast of a
king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for
he was very drunken: wherefore she told him
nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the
wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told
him these things, that his heart died within him,
and he became as a stone.
38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that
the Lord smote Nabal, that he died.
39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he
said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the
cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and
hath kept his servant from evil: for the Lord
hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his
own head. And David sent and communed with
Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
40 And when the servants of David were come to
Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying,
David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to
wife.
41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face
to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine
handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the
servants of my lord.
42 And Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an
ass, with five damsels of hers that went after
her; and she went after the messengers of David,
and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they
were also both of them his wives.
44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter,
David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which
was of Gallim.
__________________________________ |
