1 GLT And Samuel died, and all Israel gathered and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house in the Ramah. And David rose and went down to the wilderness 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.
2 GLT Now a man was in Maon and his work was in the Carmel, and the man was very great. And for him were 3, 000 sheep and 1, 000 goats. And he was shearing his sheep in the Carmel. 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 GLT And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. Now the woman was good of insight and beautiful of form. But the man was harsh and evil of deeds, and he was a Calebite. 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 GLT And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. BSB BSB: While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.
5 GLT And David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men,“Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and ask him in my name with respect to well- being. BSB BSB: So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name
6 GLT And you shall say thus,‘To life! And peace to you and peace to your house and peace to all that is for you. 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 GLT And now, I have heard that those who shear belong to you. Now the shepherds who belong to you have been with us. We have not harmed them and not anything of them was missing all the days of their being in the Carmel. 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 GLT Ask your young men and they will tell you. And let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a good day. Please give whatever your hand finds to your servants and to your son, to David.’” 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 GLT And the young men of David came, and they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David. And they rested. BSB BSB: When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.
10 GLT And Nabal answered the servants of David. And he said,“Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today there are many servants who are breaking away, a man from the face of his master. 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 GLT And should I take my bread and my water and my slaughtered thing that I have slaughtered for my ones who shear, and give it to men whom I do not know where they are from?” 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 GLT And the young men of David turned to their way. And they returned and came and told him according to all these words. BSB BSB: So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.
13 GLT And David said to his men,“Strap on a man his sword.” And they strapped on, a man his sword. And David also strapped on his sword. And about 400 men went up behind David, and 200 stayed with the things. 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 GLT But one young man from the young men told Abigail the wife of Nabal, saying,“Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to bless our master, and he screamed 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 GLT But the men were very good to us. And we were not harmed and did not miss anything all the days of our going about with them when we were in the field. 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 GLT They were a wall for us both night and day, all the days of our being with them tending the sheep. BSB BSB: They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.
17 GLT And now know and see what you should do, for evil is determined against our master and against all his house. And he is a son of worthlessness from speaking to him.” 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!”
18 GLT And Abigail hurried and took 200 bread loaves and two skins of wine and five prepared sheep and five seah of roasted grain and 100 bunches of raisins and 200 cakes of figs. And she put them on the 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 GLT And she said to her young men,“Pass over before my face. Behold, I will come behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 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 GLT And she was riding on the donkey and going down in the cover of the mountain, and behold, David and his men were coming down to meet her! And she encountered them. 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 GLT Now David had said,“Surely for a lie have I kept all that is for this one in the wilderness, and not anyhing was missed from all that is for him. And he has returned to me evil in place of good. 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 GLT Thus may God do to the enemies of David and thus may he add, if I leave over until the morning any who are for him who urinate against the wall!” BSB BSB: May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”
23 GLT And Abigail saw David, and she hurried and got down from on the donkey. And fell before the face of David on her face and bowed down to the ground. BSB BSB: When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.
24 GLT And she fell on his feet and said,“On me myself, my master, be the iniquity. Please let your female servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your female servant. 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 GLT Please do not let my master set his heart against this man of worthlessness, against Nabal, for as his name is, so he is. Nabal is his name, and senselessness is with him. But I your female servant did not see the young men of my master, whom you sent. 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 GLT And now, my master, as Yahweh is alive, and as your spirit is alive, it is Yahweh who has witheld you from entering into bloodshed and your hand saving for yourself. And now may your enemies and the ones who seek evil against my master be 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 GLT And now let this blessing that your female servant has brought to my master be given to the young men, the ones going about at the feet of my master. BSB BSB: Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.
28 GLT Please lift up the transgression of your female servant! For Yahweh will certainly make my master a sure house, because my master is fighting the battles of Yahweh. And evil will not be found in you from your days. 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 GLT If a man rises up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my master will be bound in the bundle of the living ones by Yahweh your God. And he will sling away the life of your enemies in the midst of the palm of the 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 GLT And it will happen that when Yahweh does for my master according to all the good that he spoke concerning you, and has appointed you for a ruler over Israel, 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 GLT then this will not become an obstacle for you or a stumbling block of heart for my master, or as the pouring out of blood without cause, or as my master saving himself. And Yahweh will do good for my master, and you will remember your female servant.” 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 GLT And David said to Abigail,“May Yahweh, the God of Israel, be blessed, who sent you this day to meet me. BSB BSB: Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!
33 GLT And blessed be your discernment and blessed be you, who have witheld me this day from entering into bloodshed and my hand saving for myself! 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 GLT But indeed, as Yahweh is alive, the God of Israel is he who has witheld me from doing evil to you. For if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left over for Nabal until the light of the morning one who urinates against a wall.” 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 GLT And David took from her hand what she had brought to him. And to her he said,“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have lifted up your face.” 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 GLT And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, for him was a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And the heart of Nabal was good with him and he was drunk to abundance. And she did not tell him a thing small or great until the light of the morning. 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 GLT And it happened in the morning, when the wine had gone out from Nabal, that his wife told him these things. And his heart died in his inner part and he became a stone. 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 GLT And it was about ten days then Yahweh struck Nabal and he died. BSB BSB: About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.
39 GLT And David heard that Nabal had died, and he said,“Blessed be Yahweh, who has argued the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and has witheld his servant from evil. And Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his head.” And David sent and spoke with Abigail, to take her for himself for a 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 GLT And the servants of David came to Abigail at the Carmel. And they spoke to her, saying,“David has sent us to you to take you for him for a wife.” BSB BSB: When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”
41 GLT And she rose and bowed down, nostrils to the earth, and she said,“Behold, your female servant is as a slave woman for washing the feet of the servants of my master.” 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 GLT And Abigail hurried and rose and rode on the donkey, and five of her servant girls were going to her feet. And she went behind the messengers of David and became a wife for him. 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 GLT And David took Ahinoam from Jezreel. And the two of them both became wives for him. BSB BSB: David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.
44 GLT Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, the wife of David, to Paltiel the son of Laish, who was from 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.