1And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered 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, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3The name also of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail, & she was a woman of singular wisdome, and beautifull, but the man was churlish, and euil conditioned, and was of the familie of Caleb. 4And Dauid heard in the wildernesse, that Nabal did shere his sheepe. 5Therefore Dauid sent tenne yong men, & Dauid said vnto the yong men, Go vp to Carmel, and go to Nabal, & aske him in my name how he doeth. 6And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity], Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast. 7Behold, I haue heard, that thou hast sherers: now thy shepherds were with vs, and we did the no hurt, neyther did they misse any thing all the while they were in Carmel. 8Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. 9And when Dauids yong men came, they tolde Nabal all those wordes in the name of Dauid, and helde their peace. 10And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who [is] David? and who [is] the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. 11Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I haue killed for my sherers, and giue it vnto men, whom I know not whence they be? 12So Dauids seruants turned their way, and went againe, and came, and tolde him all those things. 13And Dauid said vnto his men, Girde euery man his sword about him. And they girded euery man his sworde: Dauid also girded his sworde; about foure hundreth men went vp after Dauid, and two hundreth abode by the cariage. 14Nowe one of the seruantes tolde Abigail Nabals wife, saying, Beholde, Dauid sent messengers out of the wildernesse to salute our master, and he rayled on them. 15But the men [were] very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: 16They were as a wall vnto vs both by night & by day, all the while we were with them keeping sheepe. 17Nowe therefore take heede, and see what thou shalt doe: for euill will surely come vpon our master, and vpon all his familie: for he is so wicked that a man can not speake to him. 18Then Abigail made haste, & tooke two hundreth cakes, & two bottels of wine, & fiue sheepe ready dressed, & fiue measures of parched corne, and an hundreth frailes of raisins, & two hundreth of figs, and laded them on asses. 19And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. 20And as shee rode on her asse, shee came downe by a secret place of the mountaine, and beholde, Dauid and his men came downe against her, and she met them. 21And Dauid said, In deede I haue kept all in vaine that this fellow had in the wildernesse, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained vnto him: for he hath requited me euill for good. 22So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that [pertain] to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 23And when Abigail sawe Dauid, she hasted and lighted off her asse, and fell before Dauid on her face, and bowed her selfe to the ground, 24And fel at his feete, and sayd, Oh, my lord, I haue committed the iniquitie, and I pray thee, let thine handmayde speake to thee, and heare thou the wordes of thine handmayde. 25Let not my lorde, I pray thee, regard this wicked man Nabal: for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and follie is with him: but I thine handmayde sawe not the yong men of my lord whom thou sentest. 26Now therefore, my lord, [as] the LORD liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to [shed] blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27And now, this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought vnto my lorde, let it be giuen vnto the yong men, that followe my lord. 28I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee [all] thy days. 29Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, [as out] of the middle of a sling. 30And when the Lorde shall haue done to my lord al the good that he hath promised thee, and shall haue made thee ruler ouer Israel, 31That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid. 32Then Dauid said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lorde God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meete me. 33And blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. 34For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 35Then Dauid receiued of her hande that which she had brought him, and said to her, Goe vp in peace to thine house: beholde, I haue heard thy voyce, and haue graunted thy petition. 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 drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became [as] a stone. 38And about ten dayes after, the Lord smote Nabal, that he dyed. 39And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed [be] the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. 40And whe the seruants of Dauid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake vnto her, saying, Dauid sent vs to thee, to take thee to his wife. 41And she arose, and bowed her selfe on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmayde be a seruant to wash the feete of the seruants of my lord. 42And Abigail hasted, & arose, and rode vpon an asse, and her fiue maides folowed her, and she went after the messengers of Dauid, and was his wife. 43Dauid also tooke Ahinoam of Izreel, and they were both his wiues. 44Now Saul had giuen Michal his daughter Dauids wife to Phalti the sonne of Laish, which was of Gallim.