Chronological

Chapter 25

Death of Samuel. ¹ Now Samuel died, and all of Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. David then went down into the Desert of Paran.^[a]

Nabal and Abigail. ² There was a certain man from Maon who had property in Carmel, for he was very wealthy. He owned three thousand sheep and one thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was a good woman, intelligent and beautiful, but her husband, who was a Calebite, was difficult and disagreeable in his dealings.

⁴ While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel and approach Nabal, greeting him in my name. ⁶ Say to him, ‘May you have a long and pleasant life, and may your household prosper, and may all that you own multiply. ⁷ I have heard that you were shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harm them nor did anything that belonged to them go missing the whole time they were at Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore, show your favor to these young men, for we are here on a feast day. Please give your servants and your son David whatever comes to hand.’ ”

⁹ When David’s young men arrived, they said all of these things to Nabal in David’s name. Then they waited. ¹⁰ Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many slaves these days who have run away from their masters. ¹¹ Why should I take my bread and my water, and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give them to men when I do not even know from where they have come?”

¹² David’s young men turned and went on their way. They came back and told him all these things. ¹³ David said to his men, “Let each man put on his sword.” Each man put on his sword, and David also put on his sword. About four hundred men went up with David while the other two hundred remained with the supplies.

¹⁴ One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers into the wilderness to greet our master, and he insulted them. ¹⁵ But they have treated us well, and they have not harmed us, nor did anything go missing when we were wandering about in the fields near them. ¹⁶ Night and day, the whole time that we were with them tending the sheep, they were like a wall around us. ¹⁷ Now think about it and figure out what you will do, for certain disaster is awaiting our master and his entire household. He is a son of Belial, and no one can speak to him.”

¹⁸ Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of parched grain, one hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she loaded it all on donkeys. ¹⁹ She then said to her servants, “Go on ahead, I will follow you.” But she did not tell this to her husband.

²⁰ As she was riding along on the donkey, she went down into a mountain ravine, and there was David and his men coming down the other side, and she met them. ²¹ David had been saying, “Surely it was in vain that I watched over all of his things in the wilderness so that nothing that he owned went missing. He has paid me back evil for good. ²² May God do this to David, and even more, if by morning I have left alive even one male who belongs to him.”

²³ When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, and she fell down before David, bowing her face to the ground. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “Let the blame be upon me, my lord. Please permit your handmaid to speak to you, hear what your handmaid has to say to you.

²⁵ “May my lord not pay attention to this man of Belial, Nabal. He is just like his name. His name means fool, and folly is his companion. But as for me, I, your handmaid, did not see the young men whom you sent.^[b]

²⁶ “Now, my lord, as the Lord lives and you live, the Lord has kept you from coming to shed blood and avenging yourself with your own hands. May your enemies and all who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal. ²⁷ Now, may this gift that your handmaid has brought my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

²⁸ “I beg you, forgive your handmaid’s offense, for the Lord will surely establish an enduring dynasty for my lord because he fights the Lord’s battles. May no wrongdoing be found in you all of your days. ²⁹ Even though someone should rise up to pursue you to seek your life, my lord’s life will be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord, your God. He will launch out as from the pocket of a sling the lives of your enemies.

³⁰ “When the Lord has fulfilled all of the good things which he has said to you, my lord, and he has established you as ruler over Israel, ³¹ then there will have no staggering burden of guilt upon my lord’s conscience for either having shed blood without cause or for my lord having sought his own revenge. When the Lord has brought my lord success, remember your handmaid.”

³² David then said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today. ³³ May you be blessed for your good advice, for today you have prevented me from coming to shed blood and seeking vengeance for myself with my own hands. ³⁴ For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, who kept me from harming you, if you had not hurried out to meet me, then by morning there would not have been even one male left to Nabal.”

³⁵ David accepted the things that she had brought him out of her hands. He said to her, “Return home in peace. See, I have listened to what you said and I have granted your request.”

³⁶ Nabal’s Death. When Abigail returned to Nabal, he was in his house feasting as if he were at a king’s banquet. Nabal was in high spirits, for he was very drunk. She, therefore, did not tell him a thing until daybreak. ³⁷ In the morning, when Nabal was no longer under the influence of the wine, his wife told him these things. His heart failed him, and he became like a stone. ³⁸ About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal down and he died.

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has upheld my cause against Nabal for having treated me with scorn. He has kept his servant from wrongdoing, and the Lord has repaid Nabal’s wrongdoing upon his own head.”

David’s Marriage to Abigail. David sent word to Abigail, asking her to be his wife. ⁴⁰ David’s servants came to Abigail in Carmel and they said to her, “David has sent us to you so that he could take you as his wife.” ⁴¹ She bowed down with her face to the ground, and she said, “Behold your handmaid, a servant to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

⁴² Abigail quickly got up and rode on a donkey, accompanied by five of her women. She followed David’s messengers, and she became David’s wife. ⁴³ David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, so both of them were his wives. ⁴⁴ But Saul gave Michal, his daughter, David’s wife, to Paltri, the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Chapter 26

David Spares Saul Again.^{[c] 1} Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?” ² Saul rose up and went down into the Desert of Ziph. He had three thousand of the chosen men of Israel with him, and he sought David in the Desert of Ziph.

³ Saul camped by the road on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon. David was staying in the desert, and he saw Saul pursuing him in the desert. ⁴ David had sent out spies and discovered that Saul had indeed come.

⁵ David arose and went to the place where Saul was camped. David detected the place where Saul was lying, alongside of Abner, the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul was lying within the fortifications, and the people were encamped all around him. ⁶ David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai, Joab’s brother, the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai said, “I will go with you.”

⁷ So David and Abishai went among the people by night, and they found Saul asleep within the fortifications, his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the people were lying all around him. ⁸ Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hands today. Let me strike him once, pinning him to the ground. I will not have to strike him twice.” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do no violence to him. Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” ¹⁰ David continued, “As the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him down. Either his time will come, or he will simply die, or he will go into battle and be killed. ¹¹ The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. Now take the spear that is by his head and the water jar, and let us leave.”

¹² David took the spear that was by Saul’s head and the water jar and they left. No one had seen them, and no one knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They all kept sleeping, for the Lord had caused them to fall into a deep sleep.

¹³ David then crossed over to the other side, and he stood on the top of a distant hill, so that there was quite a space between them. ¹⁴ David cried out to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner, “Will you not answer me Abner?” Abner said, “Who are you that you call out to the king?” ^15 [d]David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why have you not kept guard over your lord, the king? Someone came in to kill the king, your lord. ¹⁶ You have not done well. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, for you have not protected your master, the Lord’s anointed. Look around now for the king’s spear and the water jar that were at his head.”

¹⁷ Saul recognized David’s voice, and he said, “Is this the voice of my son David?” David answered, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” ¹⁸ He continued, “Why is my lord chasing after his servant? What have I done? What wrongdoing have I committed? ¹⁹ Now may my lord, the king, listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, may he now accept an offering.^[e] If it was done by humans, may they be cursed by the Lord. They have driven me out of the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go serve other gods.’ ²⁰ Do not let my blood fall to the earth in the presence of the Lord. My king has come out to search for a flea, like one who goes out to hunt a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹ Saul responded, “I have sinned. Come back, David, my son, for I will not try to harm you again because you considered my life to be precious. I have played the fool and made a terrible mistake.” ²² David said, “Here is the king’s spear. Let one of your young men come over and fetch it. ²³ The Lord rewards each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. ²⁴ May the Lord value my life as much as I have valued your life today. May he deliver me from all of my difficulties.” ²⁵ Saul said to David, “May you be blessed David, my son, for you will accomplish many things and you will triumph.” David went his way, and Saul returned to his home.

Chapter 27

David’s Flight to the Philistines.^{[f] 1} David thought to himself, “One of these days I will perish at Saul’s hands. I might as well escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul will give up hope of catching me anywhere in the territory of Israel, and I will escape out of his hand.”

² David and his six hundred followers went over to Achish, the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. ³ David stayed with Achish at Gath. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam, the Jezreelite, and Abigail, Nabal’s wife, of Carmel. ⁴ When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he did not go out after him anymore.

⁵ David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your sight, then let me be given a place in one of your country towns to live. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” ⁶ That day Achish gave him Ziklag. Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah up to the present. ⁷ David lived in the territory of the Philistines for one year and four months.

David’s Raids. ⁸ David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Gezrites, and the Amalekites. (From the days of old these were the people who lived in the land running from Shur down to the land of Egypt.) ⁹ When David attacked a place, he did not leave a man or a woman alive. He took the sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and clothes, and he would then return to Achish.

^10 [g]When Achish would ask, “Where have you gone raiding today,” David would say to him, “To the south of Judah, or to the south of the Jerahmeelites, or to the south of the Kenites.”

¹¹ David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring them to Gath, for he thought they might say, “This is what David did.” He did this the whole time that he was living among the Philistines. ¹² Achish trusted David saying, “He has become so utterly hateful to his people, Israel, that he will be my servant forever.”