25Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.H8050H4191H3478H6908H5594H6912H1004H7414H1732H6965H3381H4057H62902There was a man in Maon, whose property was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.H376H4584H4639H3760H376H3966H1419H7969H505H6629H505H5795H1494H6629H37603Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean; he was a Calebite.H8034H376H5037H8034H802H26H802H2896H7922H3303H8389H376H7186H7451H4611H36144David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.H1732H8085H4057H5037H1494H66295So 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.H1732H7971H6235H5288H1732H559H5288H5927H3760H935H5037H7592H7965H80346Thus you shall salute him: 'Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.H559H2416H7965H7965H1004H79657I hear that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing, all the time they were in Carmel.H8085H1494H7462H3637H3972H6485H3117H37608Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight; for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.'"H7592H5288H5046H5288H4672H2580H5869H935H2896H3117H5414H4672H3027H5650H1121H17329When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David; and then they waited.H1732H5288H935H1696H5037H1697H8034H1732H511710But Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters.H5037H6030H1732H5650H559H1732H1121H3448H7231H5650H3117H6555H376H6440H11311Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?"H3947H3899H4325H2878H2873H1494H5414H582H304512So David's young men turned away, and came back and told him all this.H1732H5288H2015H1870H7725H935H5046H169713David said to his men, "Every man strap on his sword!" And every one of them strapped on his sword; David also strapped on his sword; and about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.H1732H559H582H2296H376H2719H2296H376H2719H1732H2296H2719H5927H310H1732H702H3967H376H3967H3427H362714But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he shouted insults at them.H259H5288H5046H26H5037H802H559H1732H7971H4397H4057H1288H113H586015Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we never missed anything when we were in the fields, as long as we were with them;H582H3966H2896H3637H6485H3972H3117H1980H770416they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.H2346H3915H3119H3117H7462H662917Now therefore know this and consider what you should do; for evil has been decided against our master and against all his house; he is so ill-natured that no one can speak to him."H3045H7200H6213H7451H3615H113H1004H1121H1100H169618Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeysH26H4116H3947H3967H3899H8147H5035H3196H2568H6629H6213H2568H5429H7039H3967H6778H3967H1690H7760H254319and said to her young men, "Go on ahead of me; I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.H559H5288H5674H6440H935H310H5046H376H503720As she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.H7392H2543H3381H5643H2022H1732H582H3381H7125H629821Now David had said, "Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; but he has returned me evil for good.H1732H559H8267H8104H2088H4057H3972H6485H7725H7451H289622God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him."H3541H3254H6213H430H341H1732H7604H5704H1242H216H8366H702323When Abigail saw David, she hurried and alighted from the donkey, fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground.H26H7200H1732H4116H3381H2543H5307H639H1732H6440H7812H77624She fell at his feet and said, "Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.H5307H7272H559H113H5771H519H1696H241H8085H1697H58925My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.H7760H113H3820H376H1100H5037H8034H5037H8034H5039H519H7200H5288H113H797126Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, since the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal.H113H3068H2416H5315H2416H3068H4513H935H1818H3467H3027H341H1245H7451H113H503727And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.H1293H8198H935H113H5414H5288H1980H7272H11328Please forgive the trespass of your servant; for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.H5375H6588H519H3068H6213H6213H113H539H1004H113H3898H4421H3068H7451H4672H311729If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.H120H6965H7291H1245H5315H5315H113H6887H6872H2416H3068H430H5315H341H7049H8432H3709H705030When the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel,H3068H6213H113H2896H1696H6680H5057H347831my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant."H6330H4383H3820H113H8210H1818H2600H113H3467H3068H3190H113H2142H51932David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!H1732H559H26H1288H3068H430H3478H7971H3117H712533Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand!H1288H2940H1288H3607H3117H935H1818H3467H302734For as surely as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male."H199H3068H430H3478H2416H4513H7489H3884H4116H935H7125H3498H5037H1242H216H8366H702335Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition."H1732H3947H3027H935H559H5927H7965H1004H7200H8085H6963H5375H644036Abigail came to Nabal; he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.H26H935H5037H4960H1004H4960H4428H5037H3820H2896H3966H7910H5046H1697H6996H1419H1242H21637In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him; he became like a stone.H1242H3196H3318H5037H802H5046H1697H3820H4191H7130H6838About ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.H6235H3117H3068H5062H5037H419139When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD who has judged the case of Nabal's insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the LORD has returned the evil-doing of Nabal upon his own head." Then David sent and wooed Abigail, to make her his wife.H1732H8085H5037H4191H559H1288H3068H7378H7379H2781H3027H5037H2820H5650H7451H3068H7725H7451H5037H7218H1732H7971H1696H26H3947H80240When David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife."H5650H1732H935H26H3760H1696H559H1732H7971H3947H80241She rose and bowed down, with her face to the ground, and said, "Your servant is a slave to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."H6965H7812H639H776H559H519H8198H7364H7272H5650H11342Abigail got up hurriedly and rode away on a donkey; her five maids attended her. She went after the messengers of David and became his wife.H26H4116H6965H7392H2543H2568H5291H1980H7272H3212H310H4397H1732H80243David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel; both of them became his wives.H1732H3947H293H3157H8147H80244Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.H7586H5414H4324H1323H1732H802H6406H1121H3919H1554