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Chapter 25
1 And Samuel died, and all Israel was gathered together, and they mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramatha. And David rose and went down into the wilderness of Pharan.
2 Now there was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great: and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and it happened that he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 Now the name of the man was Nabal: and the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a prudent and very comely woman, but her husband was churlish, and very bad and ill natured: and he was of the house of Caleb.
4 And when David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep,
5 He sent ten young men, and said to them: Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and salute him in my name with peace.
6 And you shall say: Peace be to my brethren, and to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.
7 I heard that your shepherds that were with us in the desert were shearing: we never molested them, neither was there ought missing to them of the flock at any time, all the while they were with us in Carmel.
8 Ask your servants, and they will tell you. Now therefore let your servants find favour in your eyes: for we are come in a good day, whatsoever your hand shall find give to your servants, and to your son David.
9 And when David's servants came, they spoke to Nabal all these words in David's name: and then held their peace.
10 But Nabal answering the servants of David, said: Who is David? and what is the son of Isai? servants are multiplied now a days who flee from their masters.
11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and the flesh of my cattle, which I have killed for my shearers, and give to men whom I know not whence they are?
12 So the servants of David went back their way, and returning came and told him all the words that he said.
13 Then David said to his young men: Let every man gird on his sword. And they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword: and there followed David about four hundred men: and two hundred remained with the baggage.
14 But one of the servants told Abigail the wife of Nabal, saying: Behold David sent messengers out of the wilderness, to salute our master: and he rejected them.
15 These men were very good to us, and gave us no trouble: neither did we ever lose any thing all the time that we conversed with them in the desert.
16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 Wherefore consider, and think what you have to do: for evil is determined against your husband, and against your house, and he is a son of Belial, so that no man can speak to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dry figs, and laid them upon asses:
19 And she said to her servants: Go before me: behold I will follow after you: but she told not her husband Nabal.
20 And when she had gotten upon an ass, and was coming down to the foot of the mountain, David and his men came down over against her, and she met them.
21 And David said: Truly in vain have I kept all that belonged to this man in the wilderness, and nothing was lost of all that pertained unto him: and he has returned me evil for good.
22 May God do so and so, and add more to the foes of David, if I leave of all that belong to him till the morning, any that pisses against the wall.
23 And when Abigail saw David she made haste and lighted off the ass, and fell before David, on her face, and adored upon the ground.
24 And she fell at his feet, and said: Upon me let this iniquity be, my lord: let your handmaid speak, I beseech you, in your ears: and hear the words of your servant.
25 Let not my lord the king, I pray, regard this naughty man Nabal: for according to his name, he is a fool, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid did not see your servants, my lord, whom you sent.
26 Now therefore, my lord, the Lord lives, and your soul lives, who has withholden you from coming to blood, and has saved your hand to you: and now let your enemies be as Nabal, and all they that seek evil to my lord.
27 Wherefore receive this blessing, which your handmaid has brought to you, my lord: and give it to the young men that follow you, my lord.
28 Forgive the iniquity of your handmaid: for the Lord will surely make for my lord a faithful house, because you, my lord, fight the battles of the Lord: let not evil therefore be found in you all the days of your life.
29 For if a man at any time shall rise, and persecute you, and seek your life, the soul of my lord shall be kept, as in the bundle of the living, with the Lord your God: but the souls of your enemies shall be whirled, as with the violence and whirling of a sling.
30 And when the Lord shall have done to you, my lord, all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have made you prince over Israel,
31 This shall not be an occasion of grief to you, and a scruple of heart to my lord, that you have shed innocent blood, or have revenged yourself: and when the Lord shall have done well by my lord, you shall remember your handmaid.
32 And David said to Abigail: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, and blessed be your speech:
33 And blessed be, who have kept me to day, from coming to blood, and revenging me with my own hand.
34 Otherwise as the Lord lives the God of Israel, who has withholden me from doing you any evil: if you had not quickly come to meet me, there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any that pisses against the wall.
35 And David received at her hand all that she had brought him, and said to her: Go in peace into your house, behold I have heard your voice, and have honoured your face.
36 And Abigail came to Nabal: and behold he had a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, and Nabal's heart was merry: for he was very drunk: and she told him nothing less or more until morning.
37 But early in the morning when Nabal had digested his wine, his wife told him these words, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38 And after ten days had passed, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 And when David had heard that Nabal was dead, he said: Blessed be the Lord, who has judged the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and has kept his servant from evil, and the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his head. The n David sent and treated with Abigail, that he might take her to himself for a wife.
40 And David's servants came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying: David has sent us to you, to take you to himself for a wife.
41 And she arose and bowed herself down with her face to the earth, and said: Behold, let your servant be a handmaid, to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42 And Abigail arose, and made haste, and got upon an ass, and five damsels went with her, her waiting maids, and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 Moreover David took also Achinoam of Jezrahel: and they were both of them his wives.
44 But Saul gave Michol his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti, the son of Lais, who was of Gallium.