| New International Version | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran. | 1Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. |
| 2A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. | 2Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel |
| 3His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings--he was a Calebite. | 3(now the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite), |
| 4While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. | 4that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. |
| 5So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. | 5So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him in my name; |
| 6Say to him: 'Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! | 6and thus you shall say, 'Have a long life, peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. |
| 7"'Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. | 7'Now I have heard that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel. |
| 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 you can find for them.'" | 8Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.'" |
| 9When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David's name. Then they waited. | 9When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David's name; then they waited. |
| 10Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. | 10But Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. |
| 11Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?" | 11"Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?" |
| 12David's men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. | 12So David's young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. |
| 13David said to his men, "Each of you strap on your sword!" So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies. | 13David said to his men, "Each of you gird on his sword." So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage. |
| 14One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. | 14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them. |
| 15Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. | 15"Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. |
| 16Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. | 16"They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. |
| 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 man that no one can talk to him." | 17"Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him." |
| 18Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. | 18Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. |
| 19Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. | 19She said to her young men, "Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you." But she did not tell 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. | 20It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so 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. He has paid me back evil for good. | 21Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good. |
| 22May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!" | 22"May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any 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. | 23When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground. |
| 24She fell at his feet and said: "Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. | 24She fell at his feet and said, "On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. |
| 25Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name--his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. | 25"Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you 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 and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. | 26"Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, since the LORD has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. |
| 27And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you. | 27"Now let this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord. |
| 28"Please forgive your servant's presumption. The LORD your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the LORD's battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. | 28"Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil will not be found in you all your days. |
| 29Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, 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 away as from the pocket of a sling. | 29"Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. |
| 30When the LORD has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, | 30"And when the LORD does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler 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 your servant." | 31this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant." |
| 32David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. | 32Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, |
| 33May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. | 33and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. |
| 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 would have been left alive by daybreak." | 34"Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male." |
| 35Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, "Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request." | 35So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and granted your request." |
| 36When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. | 36Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, 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 did not tell him anything at all until the morning light. |
| 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. | 37But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone. |
| 38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died. | 38About ten days later, the LORD struck 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. | 39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and has kept back His servant from evil. The LORD has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. |
| 40His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, "David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife." | 40When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you as 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." | 41She arose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Behold, your maidservant is a maid to wash the feet of my lord's servants." |
| 42Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David's messengers and became his wife. | 42Then Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife. |
| 43David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. | 43David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives. |
| 44But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim. | 44Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim. |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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