^aNow Samuel died. And all Israel assembled ^band mourned for him, and they buried him ^cin his house at ^dRamah.

Then David rose and went down to ^ethe wilderness of Paran.

And there was a man in ^fMaon whose business was in ^gCarmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. ^hHe was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; ⁱhe was a Calebite.

David heard in the wilderness that Nabal ^kwas shearing his sheep.

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.

And thus you shall greet him: ^l‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, ^mand they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come ⁿon a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.

And Nabal answered David’s servants, ^o“Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? ^pThere are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters.

Shall I take ^qmy bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to ^rmen who come from I do not know where?”

So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this.

And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And ^sabout four hundred men went up after David, ^twhile two hundred ^uremained with the baggage.

But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them.

Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, ^vand we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them.

They were ^wa wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, ^xfor harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such ^ya worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs ▼

▼A  seah was about 7 quarts or 7.3 liters

of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, ^acso that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has ^adreturned me evil for good.

^aeGod do so to the enemies of David ▼

▼Septuagint  to David

and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”

When Abigail saw David, she hurried ^agand got down from the donkey ^ahand fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.

She fell at his feet and said, ^ai“On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.

Let not my lord regard ^ajthis worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal ▼

▼ Nabal means fool

is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

Now then, my lord, ^alas the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because ^amthe Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from ^ansaving with your own hand, now then ^aolet your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.

And now let this ^appresent that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord ^aqa sure house, because my lord ^aris fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.

If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies ^ashe shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince ▼

▼Or leader

over Israel,

my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord ^auworking salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

And David said to Abigail, ^av“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, ^awwho have kept me this day from bloodguilt ^axand from working salvation with my own hand!

For as surely ^ayas the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, ^azwho has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”

Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, ^bb“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, ^bche was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart ^bdwas merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing ^beat all until the morning light.

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 as a stone.

And about ten days later ^bfthe Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, ^bg“Blessed be the Lord who has ^bhavenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, ^biand has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. ^bjThe Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and ^bkspoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”

And she rose ^bland bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of ^bmJezreel, ^bnand both of them became his wives.

Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.