The Bible - read online Recovery Version | First Samuel, chapter 25

1 Sam. 25 :1 25:1 Then ^aSamuel ¹died, and all Israel gathered together and ^bmourned for him; and they buried him at his house in Ramah. And David rose up and went down into the wilderness of Paran.

1 Sam. 25 :2 25:2 Now there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very wealthy: He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And at that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

1 Sam. 25 :3 25:3 And the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman had good discernment and was beautiful in appearance. But the man was hard, and he was evil in his doings; and he was a Calebite.

1 Sam. 25 :4 25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

1 Sam. 25 :5 25:5 So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.

1 Sam. 25 :6 25:6 And thus shall you say, Live long; and peace be to you, and ^apeace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

1 Sam. 25 :7 25:7 Now therefore I hear that you have shearers; your shepherds have now been with us, and we have not harmed them, nor has there been anything missing from them, all the time they were in Carmel.

1 Sam. 25 :8 25:8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let these young men find favor in your sight, for we come in a good time. Give whatever you may have on hand to your servants and to your son David.

1 Sam. 25 :9 25:9 So David’s young men went and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David; then they waited.

1 Sam. 25 :10 25:10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, Who is David, or who is the son of Jesse? There are many ^aservants today who break away from their masters.

1 Sam. 25 :11 25:11 Shall I then take my food and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?

1 Sam. 25 :12 25:12 Then David’s young men turned back on their way. And they returned and came and told him all these things.

1 Sam. 25 :13 25:13 And David said to his men, Each man gird on his sword. And each man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And they went up after David, about four hundred men. And two hundred remained ^awith the baggage.

1 Sam. 25 :14 25:14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, David has just sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he shouted insultingly at them.

1 Sam. 25 :15 25:15 But the men were very good to us; and we were not harmed, nor did we miss anything all the time we went with them when we were in the fields.

1 Sam. 25 :16 25:16 They were a ^awall to us both by night and by day all the time we were with them tending the sheep.

1 Sam. 25 :17 25:17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do, because evil has been determined against our master and against all his house; for he is so worthless a man that no one can speak to him.

1 Sam. 25 :18 25:18 Then Abigail hurried and took ^atwo hundred loaves of bread and two skins of wine and five sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she put them on her donkeys.

1 Sam. 25 :19 25:19 And she said to her young men, Go on before me; I am coming right behind you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

1 Sam. 25 :20 25:20 And as she rode on her donkey and came down under the cover of the mountain, David and his men at that moment came down toward her; and she met them.

1 Sam. 25 :21 25:21 Now David had said, ¹It was certainly in vain that I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that he has; for he has repaid me evil for good.

1 Sam. 25 :22 25:22 May God do so to David’s enemies, and even more, if I ^aleave so much as a male child of all that he has until morning.

1 Sam. 25 :23 25:23 And when Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from her donkey and fell on her face before David; and she bowed herself to the ground.

1 Sam. 25 :24 25:24 And she fell at his feet and said, Upon me alone, my lord, be this iniquity; and let your female servant speak in your hearing, and hear the words of your female servant.

1 Sam. 25 :25 25:25 May my lord not take this worthless man Nabal to heart. For as his name is, so he is: ¹Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your female servant did not see my lord’s young men, whom you sent.

1 Sam. 25 :26 25:26 And now, my lord, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, since Jehovah has ^awithheld you from entering into bloodshed and from ^bavenging yourself by your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek harm against my lord be like Nabal.

1 Sam. 25 :27 25:27 And now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

1 Sam. 25 :28 25:28 Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, for Jehovah will no doubt make a ^asure house for my lord, because my lord ^bfights the battles of Jehovah; and no evil will be found in you throughout your days.

1 Sam. 25 :29 25:29 And though men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, my lord’s life will be ^abound up in the bundle of the living with Jehovah your God; and the lives of your enemies He will sling out, as from the hollow of the sling.

1 Sam. 25 :30 25:30 And when Jehovah has done to my lord according to all the good He has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ^aruler over Israel,

1 Sam. 25 :31 25:31 This will not be a qualm of conscience to you or a stumbling block in heart to my lord, that you shed blood without cause or that my lord has avenged himself. And when Jehovah has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your female servant.

1 Sam. 25 :32 25:32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me.

1 Sam. 25 :33 25:33 And blessed be your discretion; and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from entering into bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

1 Sam. 25 :34 25:34 For surely as Jehovah the God of Israel lives, who has ^awithheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, indeed there would not have been ^bleft to Nabal even a male child until morning’s light.

1 Sam. 25 :35 25:35 So David took from her hand what she brought to him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have accepted your person.

1 Sam. 25 :36 25:36 And Abigail went to Nabal. And just then he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, and he was extremely drunk; therefore she told him nothing, small or great, until the light of morning.

1 Sam. 25 :37 25:37 And in the morning, when the wine had left Nabal, his wife told him these things. And his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.

1 Sam. 25 :38 25:38 And about ten days later Jehovah struck Nabal, and he died.

1 Sam. 25 :39 25:39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal and who has ^awithheld His servant from evildoing; and Jehovah has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent men to propose to Abigail, that he might take her to himself as ^1bwife.

1 Sam. 25 :40 25:40 And when David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to himself as wife.

1 Sam. 25 :41 25:41 And she rose up and fell on her face to the ground. And she said, Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.

1 Sam. 25 :42 25:42 And Abigail hurried and rose up; and she rode on a donkey, with her five young women following her. And she went after the messengers of David, and she became his wife.

1 Sam. 25 :43 25:43 David also took ^aAhinoam of Jezreel; and both of them became his ^bwives.

1 Sam. 25 :44 25:44 Now Saul had given ^aMichal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.