1 Samuel 25 24-1 Samuel 25 44
She fell at his feet and said,“ On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your slave speak to you, and listen to the words of your slave.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 stupidity is with him; but I your slave did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.“ Now then, 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, may your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be like Nabal.And now let this gift which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord.Please forgive the offense of your slave; 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.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.And when the Lord does for my lord in accordance with all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel,this will not become an obstacle to you, or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord’s having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your slave.”Then David said to Abigail,“ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me,and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, there certainly would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male.”So David accepted 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.”Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was cheerful within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything at all until the morning light.But 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 like a stone.About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said,“ Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of the shame inflicted on me by 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.When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying,“ David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”And she got up and bowed with her face to the ground, and said,“ Behold, your slave is a servant to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”Then Abigail got up quickly, and rode on a donkey, with her five female attendants who accompanied her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives.But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
