1 Samuel, 25

1. Samuel died and all Israel assembled to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. David then set off and went down to the desert of Maon.

1. Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2. Now, there was a man in Maon whose business was at Carmel; the man was very rich: he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was then at Carmel, having his sheep shorn.

2. And there was a man in Ma'on, whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3. The man's name was Nabal and his wife's Abigail. She was a woman of intelligence and beauty, but the man was miserly and churlish. He was a Calebite.

3. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Ab'igail. The woman was of good understanding and beautiful, but the man was churlish and ill-behaved; he was a Calebite.

4. When David heard in the desert that Nabal was at his sheepshearing,

4. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

5. he sent ten men off, having said to them, 'Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him from me.

5. 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.

6. And this is what you are to say to my brother, "Peace to you, peace to your family, peace to all that is yours!

6. And thus you shall salute him: `Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

7. I hear that you now have the shearers; your shepherds were with us recently: we did not molest them, nor did they lose anything all the while they were at Carmel.

7. I 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.

8. Ask your young men and they will tell you. I hope that you will give the men a welcome, coming as we do on a festival. Whatever you have to hand please give to your servants and to your son David." '

8. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes; for we come on a feast day. Pray, give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.'"

9. David's men went and said all this to Nabal for David, and waited.

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

10. Nabal retorted to the men in David's service, 'Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?

10. And Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who are breaking away from their masters.

11. There are many servants nowadays who run away from their masters. Am I to take my bread and my wine and the meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men who come from I know not where?'

11. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?"

12. David's men turned on their heels and went back, and on their arrival told him exactly what had been said.

12. So David's young men turned away, and came back and told him all this.

13. David then said to his men, 'Every man buckle on his sword!' And they buckled on their swords, and David buckled on his too; about four hundred followed David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.

13. And David said to his men, "Every man gird on his sword!" And every man of them girded on his sword; David also girded on his sword; and about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

14. Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife. He said, 'David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he flared up at them.

14. But one of the young men told Ab'igail, Nabal's wife, "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed at them.

15. Now, these men were very good to us; they did not molest us and we lost nothing all the time we had anything to do with them while we were out in the country.

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

16. Night and day, they were like a rampart to us, all the time we were with them, minding the sheep.

16. they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

17. So now make up your mind what you should do, for the ruin of our master and his whole family is a certainty, and he is such a brute that no one can say a word to him.'

17. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is so ill-natured that one cannot speak to him."

18. Abigail hastily took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready prepared, five measures of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys.

18. Then Ab'igail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two skins 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 asses.

19. She said to her servants, 'Go on ahead, I shall follow you' -- but she did not tell her husband Nabal.

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

20. As she was riding her donkey down behind a fold in the mountain, David and his men happened to be coming down in her direction; and she met them.

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

21. Now, David had decided, 'It was a waste of time my guarding all this man's property in the desert so that he lost nothing at all! He has repaid me bad for good.

21. Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good.

22. May God bring unnameable ills on David and worse ones, too, if by morning I leave a single manjack alive of all who belong to him!'

22. God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him."

23. As soon as Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from the donkey and, falling on her face in front of David, prostrated herself on the ground.

23. When Ab'igail saw David, she made haste, and alighted from the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed to the ground.

24. She fell at his feet and said, 'Let me take the blame, my lord. Let your servant speak in your ear; listen to what your servant has to say!

24. She fell at his feet and said, "Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; pray let your handmaid speak in your ears, and hear the words of your handmaid.

25. My lord, please pay no attention to this brute Nabal for his nature is like his name; "Brute" is his name and brutal he is. But I, your servant, did not see the men whom my lord sent.

25. Let not my lord regard 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 handmaid did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

26. And now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, by Yahweh who kept you from the crime of bloodshed and from taking vengeance with your own hand, may your enemies and all those ill-disposed towards you become like Nabal.

26. Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, seeing the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt, and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.

27. As for the present which your servant has brought my lord, I should like this to be given to the men in your service.

27. And now let this present which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

28. Please forgive your servant for any offence I have given you, for Yahweh will certainly assure you of a lasting dynasty, since you are fighting Yahweh's battles and no fault has been found in you throughout your life.

28. Pray forgive the trespass of your handmaid; 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.

29. Should anyone set out to hunt you down and try to kill you, your life will be kept close in the wallet of life with Yahweh your God, while your enemies' lives he will fling out of the pouch of the sling.

29. 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 he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

30. Once Yahweh has done for you all the good things which he has said he will do for you, and made you ruler of Israel,

30. 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 over Israel,

31. you must have no anxiety, my lord, no remorse, over having wantonly shed blood, over having taken a revenge. When Yahweh has done well by you, then remember your servant.'

31. my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for my lord taking vengeance himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid."

32. David said to Abigail, 'Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!

32. And David said to Ab'igail, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

33. Blessed be your wisdom and blessed you yourself for today having restrained me from the crime of bloodshed and from exacting revenge!

33. Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand!

34. But as Yahweh, God of Israel, lives, who prevented me from harming you, had you not hurried out to meet me, I swear Nabal would not have had a single manjack left alive by morning!'

34. For as surely as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had made haste and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male."

35. David then accepted what she had brought him and said, 'Go home in peace; yes, I have listened to you and have pardoned you.'

35. Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; and he said to her, "Go up in peace to your house; see, I have hearkened to your voice, and I have granted your petition."

36. Abigail returned to Nabal. He was holding a feast, a princely feast, in his house; Nabal was in high spirits, and as he was very drunk she told him nothing at all till it was daylight.

36. And Ab'igail came to Nabal; and, lo, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

37. In the morning, when Nabal's wine had left him and his wife told him everything that had happened, his heart died within him and he became like a stone.

37. And 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.

38. About ten days later Yahweh struck Nabal, and he died.

38. And about ten days later the LORD smote Nabal; and he died.

39. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, 'Blessed be Yahweh for having defended my cause over the insult which I received from Nabal, and for having restrained his servant from doing wrong! Yahweh has made Nabal's wickedness rebound on his own head!'

39. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, 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 Ab'igail, to make her his wife.

40. David then sent Abigail an offer of marriage. When the men in David's service came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, 'David has sent us to take you to him, to be his wife.'

40. And when the servants of David came to Ab'igail at Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife."

41. She stood up, then prostrated herself on the ground. 'Consider your servant a slave', she said, 'to wash the feet of my lord's servants.'

41. And she rose and 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."

42. Quickly Abigail stood up again and mounted a donkey; followed by five of her servant-girls, she followed David's messengers and became his wife.

42. And Ab'igail made haste and rose and mounted on an ass, and her five maidens attended her; she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43. David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel and he kept them both as wives.

43. David also took Ahin'o-am of Jezreel; and both of them became his wives.

44. Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti son of Laish, from Gallim.

44. Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of La'ish, who was of Gallim.