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          DASV: 1 Samuel 25    

1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and mourned
for him. They buried him near his house at Ramah. Then David
got up and went down to the desert of Paran.
2 There was a man in Maon, who owned property in Carmel, and
the man was very wealthy. He had 3,000 sheep, and 1,000 goats,
and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife
Abigail. The woman was wise and beautiful, but the man was
harsh and mean. He was a descendant of Caleb.

4 Now David heard in the desert that Nabal was shearing his
sheep.
5 So David sent ten young men, and said to them, "Go up to
Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.
6 This is how you are to greet him, 'Peace to you, and peace
be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
7 Now I have heard that you have shearers employed. Your
shepherds have been with us, and we did not harm them,
neither was there anything of theirs missing all the
while they were in Carmel.
8 Ask your young men, and they will confirm it for you.
Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes,
for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you
have at hand to your servants, and to your son David.'"
9 When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal
according to all these words in the name of David,
and waited for a response.
10 Then Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David?
Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants
now-a-days who are breaking free of their masters.
11 Should I take my bread and water, and my meat
that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it
to men who I don't even know where they have come from?"
12 So David's men went on their way, and returned
and told him all these words.

13 Then David ordered his men, "Every one of you strap
on his sword." So every man strapped on his sword,
and David also strapped on his sword. David had
about 400 men following him, while 200 stayed
with the equipment.
14 But one of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife,
"David sent messengers from the desert to salute
our master, and he screamed at them.
15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not
hurt, and nothing was missing as long as we were
with them in the fields.
16 They were a wall protecting us both night and day,
all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 Now therefore know and think about what you can do,
for trouble is going to happen to our master,
and all his house, because he has such a bad temper.
No one can tell him anything."
18 Then Abigail quickly took 200 loaves, and two skins
of wine, and five sheep already prepared, and nearly
a bushel of roasted grain, and a 100 clusters of
raisins, and 200 fig cakes, and loaded them on donkeys.
19 Then she said to her servants, "Go before me.
I will follow you." But she did not tell her husband
Nabal.

20 As she rode on her donkey, she came down under the
cover of the mountain. David and his men came down
toward her, and she met them.
21 Now David had said, "Surely it was a waste to have
protected all this fellow had in the desert, so that
nothing of his was lost or stolen of all that he owned.
Yet he has repaid me evil for good.
22 Let God do so and more to David, if I leave one of
his men alive by tomorrow morning."
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her
donkey, and fell on her face before David, and bowed
to the ground.
24 She fell at his feet, and said, "Let all the blame be
on me, my lord, and please let your servant speak in
your ears, and please listen to the words of your
servant.
25 Please pay no attention, my lord, to this ill-tempered
fellow, Nabal, for he is just like his name suggests;
Nabal [fool] is his name, and folly follows with him.
But I, your servant didn't see the servants of
my lord whom you sent.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as
your soul lives, it is the LORD who has stopped you
from shedding blood, and avenging yourself with
your own hand, now therefore let your enemies,
and those who seek to harm my lord, be as Nabal.
27 Now this gift that your servant has brought to
my lord, let it be given to the servants
who follow my lord.
28 I beg you to forgive the offense of your servant,
for the LORD will certainly establish the house of
my lord, because my lord fights the battles of
the LORD. May no harm come on you all your days.
29 When someone pursues you seeking to take your life,
yet the life of my lord will be bundled up securely
living with the LORD your God. But the lives of
your enemies will he sling away as from a sling shot.
30 When the LORD does to my lord according to all the
good that he has promised you and has appointed
you leader over Israel,
31 this will be no source of grief to you, or pangs
of conscience to my lord for having shed blood
needlessly, or that my lord has taken revenge
into his own hands. When the LORD deals well with
my lord, then remember your servant."

32 Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD,
the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me.
33 Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you,
because you have kept me today from shedding blood,
and from avenging myself with my own hand.
34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel
lives, who has stopped me from hurting you, unless you
had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not
have been one man left alive to Nabal by the
morning's light."
35 So David received from her hand what she brought him.
He said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. See, I
have listened to your voice and have granted your request."

36 When Abigail returned to Nabal, he was holding a feast in
his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal's heart was
merry within him, for he was very drunk which is why
she told him nothing until the next morning.
37 In the morning, when Nabal had sobered up, his wife told
him these things, and he had a stroke and became paralyzed
like a stone.
38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed
be the LORD who has avenged me for the insults suffered
at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant
from evil. The LORD has returned the evildoing of
Nabal back on his own head." Then David sent and
proposed to Abigail asking her to become his wife.
40 When the servants of David had come to Abigail at
Carmel, they told her, "David has sent us to you,
to bring you to him to be his wife."
41 She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the
ground, and replied, "Yes, I am your servant, a servant
happy even to wash the feet of the servants of
my lord."
42 So Abigail quickly got up and rode on a donkey,
with five of her maids that attended her, and she
followed David's messengers, and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they
both became his wives.
44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's
wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

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