1Samuel:25-26
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And Samuel died ;
and all the Israelites were gathered together ,
and lamented him ,
and buried him in his house at Ramah .
And David arose ,
and went down to the wilderness of Paran .
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And there was a man in Maon ,
whose possessions were in Carmel ;
and the man was very great ,
and he had three thousand sheep ,
and a thousand goats :
and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel .
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Now the name of the man was Nabal ;
and the name of his wife Abigail :
and she was a woman of good understanding ,
and of a beautiful countenance :
but the man was churlish and evil in his doings ;
and he was of the house of Caleb .
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And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep .
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And David sent out ten young men ,
and David said unto the young men ,
Get you up to Carmel ,
and go to Nabal ,
and greet him in my name :
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And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity ,
Peace be both to thee ,
and peace be to thine house ,
and peace be unto all that thou hast .
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And now I have heard that thou hast shearers :
now thy shepherds which were with us ,
we hurt them not ,
neither was there ought missing unto them ,
all the while they were in Carmel .
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Ask thy young men ,
and they will shew thee .
Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes :
for we come in a good day :
give ,
I pray thee ,
whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants ,
and to thy son David .
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And when David '
s young men came ,
they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David ,
and ceased .
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And Nabal answered David '
s servants ,
and said ,
Who is David ?
and who is the son of Jesse ?
there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master .
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Shall I then take my bread ,
and my water ,
and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers ,
and give it unto men ,
whom I know not whence they be ?
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So David '
s young men turned their way ,
and went again ,
and came and told him all those sayings .
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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 stuff .
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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 .
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David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel ;
and they were also both of them his wives .
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But Saul had given Michal his daughter ,
David '
s wife ,
to Phalti the son of Laish ,
which was of Gallim .
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And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah ,
saying ,
Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah ,
which is before Jeshimon ?
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Then Saul arose ,
and went down to the wilderness of Ziph ,
having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him ,
to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph .
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And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah ,
which is before Jeshimon ,
by the way .
But David abode in the wilderness ,
and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness .
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David therefore sent out spies ,
and understood that Saul was come in very deed .
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And David arose ,
and came to the place where Saul had pitched :
and David beheld the place where Saul lay ,
and Abner the son of Ner ,
the captain of his host :
and Saul lay in the trench ,
and the people pitched round about him .
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Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite ,
and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah ,
brother to Joab ,
saying ,
Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp ?
And Abishai said ,
I will go down with thee .
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So David and Abishai came to the people by night :
and ,
behold ,
Saul lay sleeping within the trench ,
and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster :
but Abner and the people lay round about him .
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Then said Abishai to David ,
God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day :
now therefore let me smite him ,
I pray thee ,
with the spear even to the earth at once ,
and I will not smite him the second time .
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And David said to Abishai ,
Destroy him not :
for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD '
S anointed ,
and be guiltless ?
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David said furthermore ,
As the LORD liveth ,
the LORD shall smite him ;
or his day shall come to die ;
or he shall descend into battle ,
and perish .
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The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the LORD '
S anointed :
but ,
I pray thee ,
take thou now the spear that is at his bolster ,
and the cruse of water ,
and let us go .
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So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul '
s bolster ;
and they gat them away ,
and no man saw it ,
nor knew it ,
neither awaked :
for they were all asleep ;
because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them .
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Then David went over to the other side ,
and stood on the top of an hill afar off ;
a great space being between them :
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And David cried to the people ,
and to Abner the son of Ner ,
saying ,
Answerest thou not ,
Abner ?
Then Abner answered and said ,
Who art thou that criest to the king ?
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And David said to Abner ,
Art not thou a valiant man ?
and who is like to thee in Israel ?
wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king ?
for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord .
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This thing is not good that thou hast done .
As the LORD liveth ,
ye are worthy to die ,
because ye have not kept your master ,
the LORD '
S anointed .
And now see where the king '
s spear is ,
and the cruse of water that was at his bolster .
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And Saul knew David '
s voice ,
and said ,
Is this thy voice ,
my son David ?
And David said ,
It is my voice ,
my lord ,
O king .
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And he said ,
Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant ?
for what have I done ?
or what evil is in mine hand ?
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Now therefore ,
I pray thee ,
let my lord the king hear the words of his servant .
If the LORD have stirred thee up against me ,
let him accept an offering :
but if they be the children of men ,
cursed be they before the LORD ;
for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD ,
saying ,
Go ,
serve other gods .
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Now therefore ,
let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD :
for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea ,
as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains .
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Then said Saul ,
I have sinned :
return ,
my son David :
for I will no more do thee harm ,
because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day :
behold ,
I have played the fool ,
and have erred exceedingly .
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And David answered and said ,
Behold the king '
s spear !
and let one of the young men come over and fetch it .
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The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness :
for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day ,
but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD '
S anointed .
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And ,
behold ,
as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes ,
so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD ,
and let him deliver me out of all tribulation .
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Then Saul said to David ,
Blessed be thou ,
my son David :
thou shalt both do great things ,
and also shalt still prevail .
So David went on his way ,
and Saul returned to his place .
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And David said in his heart ,
I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul :
there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines ;
and Saul shall despair of me ,
to seek me any more in any coast of Israel :
so shall I escape out of his hand .
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