The Death of Samuel 1 UST Soon after that, Samuel died, and people from throughout Israel gathered and mourned for him. They buried his body outside his home in Ramah. Then David and his men moved to the desolate area of Paran. BSB BSB: When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
David, Nabal, and Abigail 2 UST In the town of Maon there lived a man who kept his flocks at the nearby village of Carmel. He was very rich. He owned 3, 000 sheep and 1, 000 goats. He was shearing his sheep at Carmel at this time. BSB BSB: Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
3 UST This man’ s name was Nabal. He was a descendant of Caleb. His wife Abigail was a wise and beautiful woman, but Nabal himself was very cruel. He treated people very unkindly. BSB BSB: His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
4 UST One day while David and his men were in the desolate area nearby, someone told him that Nabal’ s workers were cutting the wool off his sheep. BSB BSB: While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.
5 UST So David decided to send ten of his soldiers{ to ask Nabal respectfully for some of the food from the celebration he was hosting while they were cutting off the wool}. He told them,“Go to Carmel and visit Nabal and greet him warmly for me. BSB BSB: So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name
6 UST Then tell him this from me:‘I wish you all the best! I hope everything is going well for you and your family and for all of your possessions. BSB BSB: and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and to your house and to all that belongs to you.
7 UST I have a small request. People have told me that you now have workers cutting the wool from your sheep. My soldiers and I were in the same area where your shepherds were tending those sheep. But the whole time they were with us near Carmel, we did not harm them, and we did not steal any sheep from them. BSB BSB: Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.
8 UST You can ask your own servants about this, and they will tell you that it is true. We have come here at a time when you are celebrating, so I ask you please to be generous to us and send back with these men something from the feast that you have prepared for this occasion. David regards you respectfully as a benefactor.’” BSB BSB: Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.’”
9 UST So David’ s men went to Carmel and told Nabal everything that David had told them to say for him. Then they waited for Nabal to reply. BSB BSB: When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.
10 UST But Nabal replied,“This David, this son of Jesse, does not deserve to receive anything from me! There are many slaves who are running away from their masters at the present time{, and he is just one of them}. BSB BSB: But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters.
11 UST I have prepared food and drink for the men who are cutting the wool from my sheep. I have even killed some of my animals so that I can serve them meat. But I am not going to take any of those things and give them to a group of men who are just wandering the countryside.” BSB BSB: Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”
12 UST So David’ s men left and went back and told him all that Nabal had said to them. BSB BSB: So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.
13 UST When he heard this, David told his men,“{ We are going to kill Nabal!} Each of you, fasten on your swords!” So they did, and David fastened on his own sword. Then 400 of the men went with David to Carmel, while 200 of them stayed behind to guard their supplies. BSB BSB: And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men strapped on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
14 UST One of Nabal’ s servants{ found out what David and his men were planning to do, so he} went to Nabal’ s wife Abigail and told her,“Please listen. David sent some messengers here to speak politely with our master Nabal, but he only yelled at them. BSB BSB: Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them.
15 UST All the time that we were close to them while we were in the fields, David’ s men were very kind to us. They did not harm us, and they did not steal anything from us. BSB BSB: Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them.
16 UST The whole time we were with them while we were tending the sheep, they continually kept any people or animals from hurting us and from taking any sheep. BSB BSB: They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.
17 UST So please consider this situation and think of something that you can do about it. David has already decided to hurt our master and all of us in his household. Nabal is a very bad man, so he will not listen to anyone who tries to tell him what he should do.” BSB BSB: Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”
Abigail Intercedes for Nabal 18 UST When Abigail heard that, she very quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two leather bags full of wine, the meat from five sheep, nearly 40 liters of roasted grain, 100 packs of raisins, and 200 packs of dried figs. She put all those things on donkeys. BSB BSB: Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys
19 UST Then she told her servants,“{ Bring these things to David as fast as you can.} Do not wait for me. I will follow you as quickly as I can.” But she did not tell her husband what she was doing. BSB BSB: and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 UST Abigail was riding on her donkey, and she was coming down the slope of a hill. Just then David and his men were coming down the slope of an opposite hill. So they met at the bottom. BSB BSB: As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.
21 UST David had been saying to his men,“It was useless for us to protect that man and all his possessions here in this desolate area. We did not steal anything that belonged to him. In return for our good actions toward him, he has acted badly toward us! BSB BSB: Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.
22 UST I hope that God will kill me if by tomorrow morning I have not killed Nabal and every male person in his household!” BSB BSB: May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”
23 UST When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down from her donkey and bowed respectfully before him with her face touching the ground. BSB BSB: When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.
24 UST Then she came and knelt at David’ s feet and said to him,“Sir, I accept the blame for the way we have mistreated you. But now please let me explain, and listen carefully to what I have to say to you. BSB BSB: She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.
25 UST Please do not pay any attention to how this bad man Nabal has insulted you. His name suits him perfectly. His name means‘fool,’ and he surely is foolish. Now I did not see the messengers you sent to him.{ If I had, I would certainly have given them plenty of food from our feast.} BSB BSB: My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.
26 UST Please listen to me, sir. I swear by Yahweh and I swear by your own life that Yahweh{ has allowed me to meet you here on the road in order to} prevent you from killing many people yourself instead of relying on Yahweh to protect you. I hope that anyone who is trying to hurt you becomes someone that no one should pay any attention to, just like Nabal. BSB BSB: Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.
27 UST { You have received} the food that I sent on ahead of me. It is a present for you and for the men who are with you. BSB BSB: Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.
28 UST So please forgive this offense, for which I consider myself responsible. Because you have been fighting against Yahweh’ s enemies, he will certainly make you king of Israel and then allow many of your descendants to become king after you. So please do not do anything terrible that you will regret for as long as you live. BSB BSB: Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.
29 UST Even if someone searches for you to try to kill you, Yahweh your God will make sure that you stay alive, as if he had wrapped you up securely for protection. He will make your enemies die instead. They will die as swiftly as a stone flies that someone hurls from a sling. BSB BSB: And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
30 UST Yahweh has promised to do good things for you, and he will do all those things for you. He will cause you to become the ruler of the Israelite people. When that happens, BSB BSB: When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel,
31 UST you will not feel great guilt and grief. You will not have killed many innocent people yourself instead of relying on Yahweh to protect you. When Yahweh does the good things he has promised to do for you, then you will remember what I told you today{ and you will be glad that you did what I said}.” BSB BSB: then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your servant.”
32 UST David replied to Abigail,“I thank Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, for sending you to speak with me today. BSB BSB: Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!
33 UST I thank him for your wisdom, and I thank him that you kept me today from killing many people myself instead of relying on Yahweh to protect me. BSB BSB: Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
34 UST I will swear something to you by Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, who has prevented me from hurting you. If you had not come so quickly to speak with me, not a single male in your household would have still been alive by dawn tomorrow.” BSB BSB: Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”
35 UST Then David accepted the gifts that Abigail had brought to him. He told her,“You may return home and not fear that we will attack you. I surely agree with what you told me, so I will do what you have asked.” BSB BSB: Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”
36 UST When Abigail returned home to Nabal, she found that he was having a big celebration such as kings have. He was feeling very happy, and he had gotten very drunk. So Abigail did not say anything at all to him that night{ about her meeting with David}. BSB BSB: When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.
37 UST The next morning, when Nabal was no longer drunk, his wife told him how David and his men had been just about to kill him and all the other men in the household. He became so distressed that he had a stroke and could no longer move. BSB BSB: In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him, and he became like a stone.
38 UST About ten days later Yahweh caused something further to happen to Nabal so that he died. BSB BSB: About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.
David Marries Abigail 39 UST When David heard that Nabal had died, he said,“I praise Yahweh! Nabal insulted me, but Yahweh has shown that I was right. He has prevented me from doing anything wrong, and he has punished Nabal for the wrong that he did to me.” Then David sent messengers to Abigail to ask her if she would become his wife. BSB BSB: On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.
40 UST David’ s servants went to Abigail at Carmel and told her,“David sent us to bring you to him so that you could become his wife.” BSB BSB: When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”
41 UST Abigail got up from where she was sitting and bowed down with her face touching the ground. Then she told the messengers to tell David for her,“I will gladly serve you as your wife. I will do any task you require, even washing the feet of your servants as a slave would do.” BSB BSB: She arose, bowed facedown, and said, “Here is your servant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”
42 UST Abigail quickly got on her donkey and went with David’ s messengers. Five of her female servants went with her. When she arrived where David was, he married her. BSB BSB: So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.
43 UST David also married Ahinoam, a woman from the city of Jezreel{ near Carmel}. So both Abigail and Ahinoam were now also David’ s wives. BSB BSB: David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.
44 UST King Saul’ s daughter Michal was David’ s wife, but Saul had given her to Palti son of Laish, who was from the town of Gallim. BSB BSB: But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.