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1 Samuel 25:14-28
New International Version
1 Samuel 25:14-28
New International Version
14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings,(A) but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat(B) us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.(C) 16 Night and day they were a wall(D) around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked(E) man that no one can talk to him.”
18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs[a] of roasted grain,(F) a hundred cakes of raisins(G) and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.(H) 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead;(I) I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell(J) her husband Nabal.
20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21 David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing.(K) He has paid(L) me back evil(M) for good. 22 May God deal with David,[b] be it ever so severely,(N) if by morning I leave alive one male(O) of all who belong to him!”
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.(P) 24 She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord,(Q) and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool(R),(S) and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. 26 And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed(T) and from avenging(U) yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.(V) 27 And let this gift,(W) which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.
28 “Please forgive(X) your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting(Y) dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles,(Z) and no wrongdoing(AA) will be found in you as long as you live.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 25:18 That is, probably about 60 pounds or about 27 kilograms
- 1 Samuel 25:22 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew with David’s enemies
1 Samuel 25:14-28
King James Version
1 Samuel 25:14-28
King James Version
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
15 But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
20 And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert on the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.
21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
22 So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
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