1 Samuel 25
Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. Dawud arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2There 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. 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 face: but the man was surly and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Qalib. 4Dawud heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5Dawud sent ten young men, and Dawud said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: 6and thus shall you tell him who lives in prosperity, As-Salam-u Alaikum, and salam to your family, and salam to all that you have. 7Now I have heard that you have shearers: your 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 your young men, and they will tell you: therefore let the young men find favour in your eyes; for we come in a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son Dawud. 9When Dawud's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of Dawud, and ceased. 10Nabal answered Dawud's servants, and said, Who is Dawud? And who is Ibn Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away every man from his master. 11Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I do not know where they come from? 12So Dawud's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. 13Dawud said to his men, Put on your swords! They all put on their swords; and Dawud also put his on: and there went up after Dawud about four hundred men; and two hundred stayed by the supplies. 14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, Dawud sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; and he railed at them. 15But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed 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 you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a worthless fellow that one cannot speak to him. 18Then Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19She said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she didn't tell her husband, Nabal. 20As she rode on her donkey, and came down the mountain ravine, Dawud and his men came down toward her; and she met them. 21Now Dawud had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that was his: and he has returned me evil for good. 22God do so to the enemies of Dawud, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one man-child. 23When Abigail saw Dawud, she hurried, and got down from her donkey, and fell before Dawud on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24She fell at his feet, and said, On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant. 25Please do not let my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and foolishness is with him: but I your servant didn't see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26Now therefore, my lord, as Allah lives, and as your soul lives, seeing Allah has withheld you from bloodshed, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28Please forgive the trespass of your servant: for Allah will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Allah; and evil shall not be found in you all your days. 29Though men be risen up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Allah your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. 30It shall come to pass, when Allah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you prince over Israel, 31that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without reason, or that my lord has avenged himself. When Allah shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant. 32Dawud said to Abigail, Praise be to Allah, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me: 33and blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, that have kept me this day from bloodshed, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34For in truth, as Allah, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. 35So Dawud received from her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, Go up in peace to your house; behold, I have listened to your voice, and have accepted your person. 36Abigail 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 until the morning light. 37It happened in the morning, when Nabal had sobered up, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38It happened about ten days after, that Allah struck Nabal, so that he died. 39When Dawud heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Praise be to Allah, 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 has Allah returned on his own head. Dawud sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife. 40When the servants of Dawud came to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, Dawud has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife. 41She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, your servant is a slave to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies of hers who followed her; and she went after the messengers of Dawud, and became his wife. 43Dawud also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives. 44Now Talut had given Michal his daughter, Dawud's wife, to Palti Ibn Laish, who was of Gallim.