1 And Samuel died;
and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented
him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose,
and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel;
and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep,
and a thousand 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: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a
beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in
his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his
sheep.
5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the
young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet
him in my name:
6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace
be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto
all that thou hast.
7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds
which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought
missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
8 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let
the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good
day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto
thy servants, and to thy son David.
9 And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according
to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David?
and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days
that break away every man from his master.
11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that
I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I
know not whence they be?
12 So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and
came and told him all those sayings.
13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword.
And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded
on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred
men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.
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 of 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.
29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul:
but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life
with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them
shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
30 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done
to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning
thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart
unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or
that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have
dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel,
which sent thee this day to meet me:
33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging
myself with mine own hand.
34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which
hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted
and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal
by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought
him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see,
I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in
his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry
within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him
nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone
out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his
heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote
Nabal, that he died.
39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed
be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from
the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for
the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own
head, And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her
to him to wife.
40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel,
they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee to take
thee to him to wife.
41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth,
and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the
feet of the servants of my lord.
42 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with
five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after
the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both
of them his wives.
44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to
Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.
Chapter 26
1 And the Ziphites
came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself
in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon?
2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph,
having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek
David in the wilderness of Ziph.
3 And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before
Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and
he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was
come in very deed.
5 And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched:
and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son
of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench,
and the people pitched round about him.
6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and
to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who
will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said,
I will go down with thee.
7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold,
Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in
the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round
about him.
8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy
into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I
pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will
not smite him the second time.
9 And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch
forth his hand against the LORD's anointed, and be guiltless?
10 David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD shall
smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend
into battle, and perish.
11 The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against
the LORD's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear
that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.
12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's
bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew
it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep
sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them.
13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the
top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them:
14 And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner,
saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said,
Who art thou that criest to the king?
15 And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and
who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not
kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in
to destroy the king thy lord.
16 This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth,
ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master,
the LORD's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is,
and the cruse of water that was at his bolster.
17 And Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this thy voice,
my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.
18 And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his
servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand?
19 Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the
words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against
me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children
of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven
me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD,
saying, Go, serve other gods.
20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before
the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to
seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
21 Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for
I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in
thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have
erred exceedingly.
22 And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear! and
let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
23 The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness:
for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would
not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD's anointed.
24 And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine
eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD,
and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.
25 Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David: thou
shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So
David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.
Chapter 27
1 And David said
in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul:
there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape
into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of
me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape
out of his hand.
2 And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men
that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every
man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam
the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.
4 And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought
no more again for him.
5 And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine
eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country,
that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in
the royal city with thee?
6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth
unto the kings of Judah unto this day.
7 And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines
was a full year and four months.
8 And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites,
and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were
of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even
unto the land of Egypt.
9 And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive,
and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the
camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.
10 And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And
David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south
of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings
to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did
David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in
the country of the Philistines.
12 And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people
Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant
for ever. |