1And Samuel died. And all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2And there was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very great [in goods], and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And the woman was 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. 4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6And thus ye shall say to him who lives [in prosperity], Peace be to thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be to all that thou have. 7And now I have heard that thou have shearers. Thy shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them all the while they were in Carmel. 8Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee. Therefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatever comes to thy hand to thy servants, and to thy son David. 9And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 10And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants now-a-days who break away every man from his master. 11Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men of whom I know not from where they are? 12So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. 13And David said to 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 baggage. 14But 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 at them. 15But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither did we miss anything as long as we went with them when we were in the fields. 16They were a wall to us both by night and by day all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17Now therefore know and consider what thou will do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house. For he is such a worthless fellow that [a man] cannot speak to him. 18Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on don 19And she said to her young men, Go on before me, behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20And it was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. 21Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him, and he has returned me evil for good. 22God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertains to him by the morning light so much as one man-child. 23And when Abigail saw David, she hastened, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24And she fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity, and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. 25Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord whom thou sent. 26Now therefore, my lord, as LORD lives, and as thy soul lives, since LORD has withheld thee from blood guiltiness, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, b 27And now this present which thy servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid. For LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of LORD, and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days. 29And though men be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with LORD thy God. And the souls of thine enemies, them he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30And it shall come to pass, when LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel, 31that this shall be no grief to thee, nor offence of heart to my lord, either that thou have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. And when LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid 32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be LORD, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me, 33and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, who have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34For in very deed, as LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting thee, unless thou had hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. 35So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to thy house. See, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person. 36And 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 drunk. Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38And it came to pass about ten days after, that LORD smote Nabal, so that he died. 39And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil, and the evil-doing of Nabal LORD has returned upon his ow 40And when the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee to him to wife. 41And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42And Abigail hastened, and arose, and rode upon a donkey, with five of her damsels who followed her. And she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they became his wives, both of them. 44Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.