And Samueldied; and all the Israelitesweregatheredtogether, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And Davidarose, and wentdown to the wilderness of Paran.
And there was a man in Maon, whosepossessionswere in Carmel; and the man was verygreat, and he had threethousandsheep, and a thousandgoats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wifeAbigail: and she was a woman of goodunderstanding, and of a beautifulcountenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
And now I haveheardthatthouhastshearers: now thy shepherdswhichwerewith us, we hurtthem not, neither was thereoughtmissinguntothem, all the whiletheywere in Carmel.
Ask thy young men, and theywillshewthee. Wherefore let the young men findfavour in thineeyes: for we come in a good day: give, I praythee, whatsoevercometh to thinehandunto thy servants, and to thy son David.
And NabalansweredDavid’sservants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be manyservants now a daysthatbreakawayevery man from his master.
And Davidsaidunto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And theygirded on every man his sword; and Davidalsogirded on his sword: and therewent up afterDavidaboutfourhundred men; and two hundredabode by the stuff.
But one of the young men toldAbigail, Nabal’swife, saying, Behold, Davidsentmessengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
Now thereforeknow and considerwhatthouwilt do; for evil is determinedagainst our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannotspeak to him.
ThenAbigailmadehaste, and took two hundredloaves, and two bottles of wine, and fivesheepreadydressed, and fivemeasures of parchedcorn, and an hundredclusters of raisins, and two hundredcakes of figs, and laidthem on asses.
And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she camedown by the covert on the hill, and, behold, David and his men camedownagainst her; and she met them.
Now David had said, Surely in vainhave I kept all thatthisfellowhath in the wilderness, so thatnothing was missed of all thatpertainedunto him: and he hathrequited me evil for good.
And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let thisiniquity be: and let thinehandmaid, I praythee, speak in thineaudience, and hear the words of thinehandmaid.
Let not my lord, I praythee, regardthis man of Belial, evenNabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thinehandmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whomthoudidstsend.
Now therefore, my lord, as the LORDliveth, and as thy soulliveth, seeing the LORDhathwithholdentheefromcoming to shedblood, and fromavengingthyselfwiththine own hand, now let thineenemies, and theythatseekevil to my lord, be as Nabal.
I praythee, forgive the trespass of thinehandmaid: for the LORDwillcertainlymake my lord a surehouse; because my lordfighteth the battles of the LORD, and evilhath not beenfound in thee all thy days.
Yet a man is risen to pursuethee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lordshall be bound in the bundle of lifewith the LORD thy God; and the souls of thineenemies, themshall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
And it shallcome to pass, when the LORDshallhavedone to my lordaccording to all the goodthat he hathspokenconcerningthee, and shallhaveappointedtheeruleroverIsrael;
Thatthisshall be no griefuntothee, nor offence of heartunto my lord, eitherthatthouhastshedbloodcauseless, or that my lordhathavengedhimself: but when the LORDshallhavedealtwellwith my lord, thenrememberthinehandmaid.
For in verydeed, as the LORD God of Israelliveth, whichhathkept me backfromhurtingthee, exceptthouhadsthasted and come to meet me, surelythere had not beenleftuntoNabal by the morninglight any thatpissethagainst the wall.
So Davidreceived of her handthatwhich she had brought him, and saidunto her, Go up in peace to thinehouse; see, I havehearkened to thy voice, and haveaccepted thy person.
And Abigailcame to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’sheart was merrywithin him, for he was verydrunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morninglight.
But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him thesethings, that his heartdiedwithin him, and he became as a stone.
And whenDavidheardthatNabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, thathathpleaded the cause of my reproachfrom the hand of Nabal, and hathkept his servantfromevil: for the LORDhathreturned the wickedness of Nabalupon his own head. And Davidsent and communedwithAbigail, to take her to him to wife.
And she arose, and bowedherself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thinehandmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
And Abigailhasted, and arose, and rodeupon an ass, withfivedamsels of hersthatwentafter her; and she wentafter the messengers of David, and became his wife.