1 Samuel 25

New International Version

David, Nabal and Abigail

25 Now Samuel died,^(A) and all Israel assembled and mourned^(B) for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.^(C) Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.^[a]

²A certain man in Maon,^(D) who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy.^(E) He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing^(F) in Carmel. ³His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail.^(G) She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.^(H)

⁴While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. ⁵So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. ⁶Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health^(I) to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!^(J)

⁷“‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat^(K) them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. ⁸Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever^(L) you can find for them.’”

⁹When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

¹⁰Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who^(M) is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. ¹¹Why should I take my bread^(N) and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

¹²David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. ¹³David said to his men^(O), “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went^(P) up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.^(Q)

¹⁴One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings,^(R) but he hurled insults at them. ¹⁵Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat^(S) us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.^(T) ¹⁶Night and day they were a wall^(U) around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. ¹⁷Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked^(V) man that no one can talk to him.”

¹⁸Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs^[b] of roasted grain,^(W) a hundred cakes of raisins^(X) and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.^(Y) ¹⁹Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead;^(Z) I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell^(AA) her husband Nabal.

²⁰As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. ²¹David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing.^(AB) He has paid^(AC) me back evil^(AD) for good. ²²May God deal with David,^[c] be it ever so severely,^(AE) if by morning I leave alive one male^(AF) of all who belong to him!”

²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.^(AG) ²⁴She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord,^(AH) and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. ²⁵Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool^(AI),^(AJ) and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. ²⁶And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed^(AK) and from avenging^(AL) yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.^(AM) ²⁷And let this gift,^(AN) which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

²⁸“Please forgive^(AO) your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting^(AP) dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles,^(AQ) and no wrongdoing^(AR) will be found in you as long as you live. ²⁹Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life,^(AS) the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl^(AT) away as from the pocket of a sling.^(AU) ³⁰When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler^(AV) over Israel, ³¹my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember^(AW) your servant.”^(AX)

³²David said to Abigail, “Praise^(AY) be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. ³³May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed^(AZ) this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. ³⁴Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal^(BA) would have been left alive by daybreak.”

³⁵Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted^(BB) your request.”

³⁶When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high^(BC) spirits and very drunk.^(BD) So she told^(BE) him nothing at all until daybreak. ³⁷Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.^(BF) ³⁸About ten days later, the Lord struck^(BG) Nabal and he died.

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”

Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. ⁴⁰His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”

⁴¹She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴²Abigail^(BH) quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife. ⁴³David had also married Ahinoam^(BI) of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.^(BJ) ⁴⁴But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel^[d]^(BK) son of Laish, who was from Gallim.^(BL)

Footnotes

1 Samuel 25:1 Hebrew and some Septuagint manuscripts; other Septuagint manuscripts Maon
1 Samuel 25:18 That is, probably about 60 pounds or about 27 kilograms
1 Samuel 25:22 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew with David’s enemies
1 Samuel 25:44 Hebrew Palti, a variant of Paltiel

1 Samuel 26

New International Version

David Again Spares Saul’s Life

26 The Ziphites^(A) went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding^(B) on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?^(C)”

²So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search^(D) there for David. ³Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah^(E) facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, ⁴he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived.

⁵Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner^(F) son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

⁶David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite^(G) and Abishai^(H) son of Zeruiah,^(I) Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?”

“I’ll go with you,” said Abishai.

⁷So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed^(J) and be guiltless?^(K) ¹⁰As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike^(L) him, or his time^(M) will come and he will die,^(N) or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

¹²So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep.^(O)

¹³Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them. ¹⁴He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?”

Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?”

¹⁵David said, “You’re a man, aren’t you? And who is like you in Israel? Why didn’t you guard your lord the king? Someone came to destroy your lord the king. ¹⁶What you have done is not good. As surely as the Lord lives, you and your men must die, because you did not guard your master, the Lord’s anointed. Look around you. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?”

¹⁷Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice,^(P) David my son?”

David replied, “Yes it is, my lord the king.” ¹⁸And he added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong^(Q) am I guilty of? ¹⁹Now let my lord the king listen^(R) to his servant’s words. If the Lord has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering.^(S) If, however, people have done it, may they be cursed before the Lord! They have driven me today from my share in the Lord’s inheritance^(T) and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods.’^(U) ²⁰Now do not let my blood^(V) fall to the ground far from the presence of the Lord. The king of Israel has come out to look for a flea^(W)—as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.^(X)”

²¹Then Saul said, “I have sinned.^(Y) Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious^(Z) today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.”

²²“Here is the king’s spear,” David answered. “Let one of your young men come over and get it. ²³The Lord rewards^(AA) everyone for their righteousness^(AB) and faithfulness. The Lord delivered^(AC) you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. ²⁴As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver^(AD) me from all trouble.”