1Then Samuel died, and all Israel gathered and mourned for him, and they buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was of good understanding and beautiful in form, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings; and he was a Calebite.
4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5So 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 with peace.
6And you shall say to him thus: ‘To life! Peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.
7Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds who were with us — we did not shame them, and nothing of theirs went missing all the days they were in Carmel.
8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a good day. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.”
9So David’s young men came and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name; then they waited.
10But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? Nowadays servants are many who break away, each from before his master.
11Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men who — I do not know from where they are?”
12So David’s young men turned back on their way and returned; and they came and told him according to all these words.
13Then David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” So every man strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to bless our master, but he screamed at them.
15Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not shamed, and we did not miss anything all the days we went about with them while we were in the field.
16They were a wall around us both by night and by day, all the days we were with them tending the sheep.
17Now therefore know and consider what you should do, for evil has been determined against our master and against all his house; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.”
18Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on the donkeys.
19And she said to her young men, “Pass on ahead of me; behold, I am coming after you.” But to her husband Nabal she told nothing.
20And it happened that as she was riding on the donkey and going down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them.
21Now David had said, “Surely in vain I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing of all that was his went missing; and he has returned me evil for good.
22May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave until morning so much as one male of all that belongs to him.”
23When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey, and fell on her face before David and bowed to the ground.
24She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, be the guilt! Please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant.
25Let not my lord set his heart against this worthless man, against Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: Nabal (‘Fool’) is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your maidservant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.
26And now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your own life lives, since Yahweh has held you back from coming into bloodguilt and from your own hand saving you — now may your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord be like Nabal.
27And now this blessing which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow at my lord’s feet.
28Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant, for Yahweh will surely make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh, and evil shall not be found in you all your days.
29Though a man has risen to pursue you and to seek your life, yet the life of my lord shall be bound up in the bundle of the living with Yahweh your God; but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out from within the hollow of a sling.
30And it will happen, when Yahweh does for my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel,
31then this shall not be to you a stumbling or an obstacle of heart to my lord—that you shed blood without cause, or that my lord took vengeance for himself. And when Yahweh does good to my lord, then remember your servant.”
32And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!
33And blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from coming into bloodguilt and from delivering myself with my own hand.
34But truly, as Yahweh the God of Israel lives, who has held me back from doing harm to you—if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal, by the light of morning, so much as one who urinates against a wall.”
35Then David took from her hand what she had brought him, and to her he said, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.”
36When Abigail came to Nabal, there he was, holding a banquet in his house like the banquet of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing, small or great, until the light of morning.
37And in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.
38And about ten days later Yahweh struck Nabal, and he died.
39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has taken up the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil; and the evil of Nabal Yahweh has returned upon his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her to himself as a wife.
40So David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as a wife.”
41And she rose and bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “Here is your servant, as a maidservant to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”
42Then Abigail hurried and rose and mounted the donkey, with her five maidens who went at her feet, and she went after David’s messengers and became his wife.
43David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and the two of them became his wives.
44But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
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