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1 And Samuel died, and all Israel assembled, and bewailed him, and they bury him in his house in Ramah: and David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Maon.
2 And there was a man in Maon, and his flocks were in Carmel, and he was a very great man; and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand she-goats: and he happened to be shearing his flock in Carmel. 3 And the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail: 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. 4 And David heard in the wilderness, that Nabal the Carmelite was shearing his sheep. 5 And David sent ten young men, and he said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and ask him in my name how he is. 6 And thus shall ye say, May thou and thy house seasonably prosper, and all thine be in prosperity.
7 And now, behold, I have heard that thy shepherds who were with us in the wilderness are shearing thy sheep, and we hindered them not, neither did we demand anything from them all the time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask 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.
9 So the servants come and speak these words to Nabal, according to all these words in the name of David. 10 And Nabal sprang up, and answered the servants of David, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? nowadays there is abundance of servants who depart every one from his master. 11 And shall I take my bread, and my wine, and my beasts that I have slain for my shearers, and shall I give them to men of whom I know not whence they are? 12 So the servants of David turned back, and returned, and came and reported to David according to these words. 13 And David said to his men, Gird on every man his sword. And they went up after David, about four hundred men: and two hundred abode with the stuff.
14 And one of the servants reported to Abigail the wife of Nabal, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our lord; but he turned away from them. 15 And the men were very good to us; they did not hinder us, neither did they demand from us anything all the days that we were with them. 16 And 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. 17 And 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.
18 And Abigail hastened, 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. 19 And she said to her servants, Go on before me, and behold I come after you: but she told not her husband. 20 And 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. 21 And David said, Perhaps I have kept all his possessions in the wilderness that he should wrong me, and we did not order the taking anything of all his goods; yet he has rewarded me evil for good. 22 So God do to David and more also, if I leave one male of all that belong to Nabal until the morning.
23 And Abigail saw David, and she hastened, and alighted from her ass; and she fell before David on her face, and did obeisance to him, bowing to the ground 24 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. 25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, take to heart this pestilent man, 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.
26 And now, my lord, as the Lord lives, and thy soul lives, as the Lord has kept thee from coming against innocent blood, and from executing vengeance for thyself, now therefore let thine enemies, and those that seek evil against my lord, become as Nabal. 27 And now accept this token of goodwill, which thy servant has brought to my lord, and thou shalt give it to the servants that wait on my lord. 28 Remove, 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. 29 And 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. 30 And 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; 31 then this shall not be an abomination and offense 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 thy handmaid to do her good.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent thee this very day to meet me: 33 and blessed be thy conduct, and blessed be thou, who hast hindered me this very day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself. 34 But surely as the Lord God of Israel lives, who hindered me this day from doing thee harm, if thou hadst not hastened and come to meet me, then I said, There shall surely not be left to Nabal till the morning one male. 35 And 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 petition.
36 And Abigail 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 within him, and he was very drunken: and she told him nothing great or small till the morning light. 37 And 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.
38 And it came to pass after about ten days, that the Lord smote Nabal, and he died. 39 And David heard it and said, Blessed be the Lord, who has judged the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and has delivered his servant from the power of evil; and the Lord has returned the mischief of Nabal upon his own head.
And David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself for a wife. 40 So the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee to himself for a wife. 41 And she arose, and did reverence with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy servant is for a handmaid to wash the feet of thy servants. 42 And Abigail arose, and mounted her ass, and five damsels followed her: and she went after the servants of David, and became his wife. 43 And David took Ahinoam out of Jezreel, and they were both his wives. 44 And Saul gave Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish who was of Romma.