1Samuel:25:14-42
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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 .
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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 :
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They were a wall unto us both by night and day ,
all the while we were with them keeping the sheep .
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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 .
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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 .
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And she said unto her servants ,
Go on before me ;
behold ,
I come after you .
But she told not her husband Nabal .
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And it was so ,
as she rode on the ass ,
that she came down by the covert of the hill ,
and ,
behold ,
David and his men came down against her ;
and she met them .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 ,
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 ;
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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 .
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And David said to Abigail ,
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel ,
which sent thee this day to meet me :
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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And it came to pass about ten days after ,
that the LORD smote Nabal ,
that he died .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .