1Samuel:25

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* And Samuel died ; and all the Israelites assembled themselves together , and lamented for him , and buried him in his house at Ramah . And David arose , and went down to the wilderness of Paran . * And there was a man in Ma ’on , whose business was in Carmel ; and the man was very great , and he had three thousand sheep , and a thousand goats : and he was , while they were shearing his sheep , at Carmel . * Now the name of the man was Nabal , and the name of his wife Abigayil : and the woman was of good understanding , and of a beautiful form ; but the man was hard –hearted and evil in his deeds ; and he was of the house of Caleb . * And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep . * And David sent out ten young men , and David said unto the young men , Get you up to Carmel , and go to Nabal , and ask him in my name after his well –being . * And ye shall say , May it thus be throughout thy life ; and peace be to thee , and peace be to thy house , and unto all that thou hast be peace . * And now have I heard that thou hast sheep –shearers : now thy shepherds have been with us , we have not injured them , neither hath there aught been missing unto them , all the time they were at Carmel . * Ask thy young men , and they will tell it thee . Therefore let the young men find favor in thy eyes ; for on a festive day are we come : give , I pray thee , whatsoever thy hand is capable of unto thy servants , and to thy son , to David . * And David ’s young men came , and they spoke to Nabal in accordance with all these words in the name of David ; and then they ceased . * And Nabal answered the servants of David , and said , Who is David ? and who is the son of Jesse ? now –a –days there are many servants that break away every one from his master . * Shall I then take my bread , and my water , and my flesh that I have killed for my sheep –shearers , and give it unto men , whom I know not whence they are ? * And David ’s young men turned about on their way , and returned , and came and told him in accordance with all these words . * 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 baggage . * But one of the young men told Abigayil , Nabal ’s wife , saying , Behold , David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master ; but he hath spoken rudely to them . * Whereas the men have been very good unto us ; and we have not been injured , neither have we missed any thing , all the time that we went about with them , while we were in the field : * A wall were they around us both by night and by day , all the time we were with them , feeding the flocks . * And now know and consider what thou canst do ; for evil is determined on against our master , and against all his household ; and he is too greatly a worthless man for me to speak to him . * And Abigayil made haste , and took two hundred loaves , and two bottles of wine , and five sheep ready dressed , and five measures of parched corn , and a hundred clusters of raisins , and two hundred cakes of figs , and laid them on asses . * And she said unto her young men , Pass on before me : behold , I come after you . But to her husband Nabal she told nothing . * And it was so , as she was riding on the ass , and coming down by the covert of the mount , that , behold , David and his men came down toward her ; and she met them . * Now David had said , Yea , for naught only have I guarded all that belongeth to this fellow in the wilderness , so that not the least was missed of all that pertained unto him ; and he hath requited me evil instead of good . * So may God do unto the enemies of David , and do so yet farther , if I leave of all that pertaineth to him by the morning light , as much as a dog . * And when Abigayil saw David , she hastened , and alighted off the ass , and fell down before David on her face , and bowed herself to the ground . * And she fell at his feet , and said , On me , me , my lord , is the fault : and let thy hand –maid , I pray thee , speak in thy hearing , and listen to the words of thy hand –maid . * Let not my Lord , I pray thee , turn his heart unto this worthless man , unto Nabal ; for as his name is , so is he : Nabal is his name , and meanness is with him ; but I thy hand –maid did not see the young men of my Lord , whom thou didst send . * And now , my lord , as the Eternal liveth , and as thy soul liveth , it is the Lord who hath withholden thee from coming to blood –guiltiness , and from helping thyself with thy own hand ; and now may like Nabal be thy enemies , and those that seek my Lord evil . * And now this present which thy hand –maid hath brought unto my Lord , let it even be given unto the young men that follow in the train my Lord . * Pardon , I pray thee , the trespass of thy hand –maid ; for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house ; because the battles of the Lord doth my lord fight , and evil will not be found in thee all thy days . * And though a man is risen up to pursue thee , and to seek thy soul : yet will the soul of my Lord be bound in the bond of life with the Lord thy God ; and the soul of thy enemies will he hurl away , as out of the middle of the sling . * And it shall come to pass , when the Lord will do to my lord , in accordance with all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee , and will ordain thee as ruler over Israel , * That this shall not be unto thee as a cause of offense and as a reproach of heart unto my lord , both by having shed blood without cause , and by my lord having righted himself ; and when the Lord will do good unto my lord , then do thou remember thy hand –maid . * And David said to Abigayil , Blessed be the Lord , the God of Israel , who sent thee this day to meet me ; * And blessed be thy intelligence , and blessed be thou , who hast prevented me this day from coming unto blood –guiltiness , and from helping myself with my own hand . * But truly , as the Lord the God of Israel liveth , who hath withdrawn me from injuring thee , except thou hadst hastened and come to meet me , surely there would not have been left unto Nabal by the morning –light so much as a dog . * And David took out of her hand that which she had brought him ; and unto her he said , Go up in peace to thy house : see , I have hearkened to thy voice , and have respected thy presence . * And Abigayil 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 , and he was exceedingly drunken ; wherefore she told him not a word , either little or great , until the morning –light . * But it happened in the morning , when the wine was gone out of Nabal , that his wife told him these things ; and his heart died within him , and he became as a stone . * And it came to pass in about ten days thereafter , that the Lord struck Nabal , and he died . * And when David heard that Nabal was dead , he said , Blessed be the Lord , who hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal , and hath withheld his servant from evil ; and the wickedness of Nabal hath the Lord returned upon his own head . And David sent and applied for Abigayil , to take her to himself for wife . * And the servants of David came to Abigayil to Carmel , and they spoke unto her , saying , David hath sent us unto thee , to take thee to himself for wife . * Thereupon she arose , and bowed herself with her face to the earth , and said , Behold , let thy hand –maid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord . * And Abigayil hastened , and arose , and rode upon an ass , with her five damsels that went in her train ; and she went after the messengers of David , and she became his wife . * David also took Achino ’am of Yizre ’el ; and both of them became thus his wives . * But Saul had given Michal his daughter , David ’s wife , to Palti , the son of Layish , who was of Gallim .

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