1Samuel died. All of Israel gathered, mourned for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2There was a very wealthy man in Maon, who owned land in Carmel. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man was rude and behaved badly. He was from the family of Caleb.
4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5David sent ten young men and told them, “Go up to Carmel, find Nabal, and greet him for me.
6Tell him, ‘May you live a long life! May peace be with you, with your family, and with all that you own.
7I've heard that you have people shearing your sheep. Your shepherds have been with us, and we didn't harm them or take anything from them the entire time they were in Carmel.
8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So please be kind to my young men, because we have come on a special day. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.
9When David’s young men arrived, they repeated all these words to Nabal in David’s name, and then they waited.
10Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Nowadays, many servants are running away from their masters.
11Should I take my bread, my water, and the meat I’ve prepared for my shearers, and give it to men I don't even know where they're from?
12So David’s young men turned around and went back, and when they arrived, they told him everything Nabal had said.
13David told his men, “Everyone put on his sword!” So every man put on his sword, and David put on his own sword. About four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
14However, one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he insulted them.
15But those men were very good to us. We were not harmed, and we didn’t lose anything the whole time we were with them in the fields.
16They were like a protective wall for us night and day while we were with them, looking after the sheep.
17Now you must decide what to do, because disaster is planned for our master and his entire household. He is such a wicked man that no one can even talk to him.
18Immediately, Abigail gathered two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep that were already prepared, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred fig cakes, and she loaded them onto donkeys.
19She told her young servants, "Go on ahead of me. I will follow you." But she did not tell her husband, Nabal.
20As she was riding her donkey and going down a hidden path on the mountain, David and his men were coming down towards her, and she met them.
21David had just said, "I certainly wasted my time guarding everything this fellow owns in the wilderness so that nothing he had was lost. He has repaid my good with evil.
22May God punish David's enemies, and more, if by morning light I leave alive even one male belonging to him."
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.
24She fell at his feet and said, "My lord, let the blame be on me! Please allow your servant to speak to you. Listen to what your servant has to say.
25Please, my lord, pay no attention to this worthless man Nabal. He is exactly like his name suggests; Nabal means 'fool,' and foolishness is in him. But I, your servant, did not see the young men my lord sent.
26Now then, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as you live, since Yahweh has stopped you from shedding blood and taking revenge with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.
27Please accept this gift that your servant has brought to my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28Please forgive your servant's offense. For Yahweh will surely establish a lasting dynasty for my lord, because my lord fights Yahweh's battles. No evil will be found in you throughout your life.
29Even though men may rise up to pursue you and try to take your life, the life of my lord will be protected in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God. He will hurl away the lives of your enemies as if from the hollow of a sling.
30When Yahweh has done for my lord all the good things he has promised you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel,
31then this will not be a source of grief or remorse for my lord, either for shedding blood without cause or for taking revenge yourself. When Yahweh has dealt well with my lord, please remember your servant."
32David said to Abigail, "Praise be to Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!
33Blessed be your good judgment, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from shedding blood and from taking revenge with my own hand.
34For as surely as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not hurried to meet me, by morning light not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive."
35So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he told her, "Go home in peace. I have listened to your request and granted it."
36When Abigail returned to Nabal, he was holding a feast in his house, like a king's celebration. Nabal was in high spirits because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing until the morning light.
37In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him everything. His heart failed him, and he became like a stone.
38About ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal, and he died.
39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise Yahweh, who has defended me from Nabal’s insult and kept his servant from doing wrong. Yahweh has made Nabal suffer for his own evil deeds.” David then sent for Abigail to take her as his wife.
40When David’s servants came to Abigail in Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you as his wife.”
41She stood up and bowed with her face to the ground, saying, “I am your servant, ready to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”
42Abigail quickly got up, mounted a donkey, and, accompanied by her five female attendants, followed David’s messengers and became his wife.
43David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, so both women became his wives.
44Saul, however, had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti, the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.