1 Faleceu Samuel; todos os filhos de Israel se ajuntaram, e o prantearam, e o sepultaram na sua casa, em Ramá. Davi se levantou e desceu ao deserto de Parã.

2 Havia um homem, em Maom, que tinha as suas possessões no Carmelo; homem abastado, tinha três mil ovelhas e mil cabras e estava tosquiando as suas ovelhas no Carmelo. 3 Nabal era o nome deste homem, e Abigail, o de sua mulher; esta era sensata e formosa, porém o homem era duro e maligno em todo o seu trato. Era ele da casa de Calebe. 4 Ouvindo Davi, no deserto, que Nabal tosquiava as suas ovelhas, 5 enviou dez moços e lhes disse: Subi ao Carmelo, ide a Nabal, perguntai-lhe, em meu nome, como está. 6 Direis àquele próspero: Paz seja contigo, e tenha paz a tua casa, e tudo o que possuis tenha paz! 7 Tenho ouvido que tens tosquiadores. Os teus pastores estiveram conosco; nenhum agravo lhes fizemos, e de nenhuma coisa sentiram falta todos os dias que estiveram no Carmelo. 8 Pergunta aos teus moços, e eles to dirão; achem mercê, pois, os meus moços na tua presença, porque viemos em boa hora; dá, pois, a teus servos e a Davi, teu filho, qualquer coisa que tiveres à mão.

9 Chegando, pois, os moços de Davi e tendo falado a Nabal todas essas palavras em nome de Davi, aguardaram. 10 Respondeu Nabal aos moços de Davi e disse: Quem é Davi, e quem é o filho de Jessé? Muitos são, hoje em dia, os servos que fogem ao seu senhor. 11 Tomaria eu, pois, o meu pão, e a minha água, e a carne das minhas reses que degolei para os meus tosquiadores e o daria a homens que eu não sei donde vêm? 12 Então, os moços de Davi puseram-se a caminho, voltaram e, tendo chegado, lhe contaram tudo, segundo todas estas palavras. 13 Pelo que disse Davi aos seus homens: Cada um cinja a sua espada. E cada um cingiu a sua espada, e também Davi, a sua; subiram após Davi uns quatrocentos homens, e duzentos ficaram com a bagagem. 14 Nesse meio tempo, um dentre os moços de Nabal o anunciou a Abigail, mulher deste, dizendo: Davi enviou do deserto mensageiros a saudar a nosso senhor; porém este disparatou com eles. 15 Aqueles homens, porém, nos têm sido muito bons, e nunca fomos agravados por eles e de nenhuma coisa sentimos falta em todos os dias de nosso trato com eles, quando estávamos no campo. 16 De muro em redor nos serviram, tanto de dia como de noite, todos os dias que estivemos com eles apascentando as ovelhas. 17 Agora, pois, considera e vê o que hás de fazer, porque já o mal está, de fato, determinado contra o nosso senhor e contra toda a sua casa; e ele é filho de Belial, e não há quem lhe possa falar.

18 Então, Abigail tomou, a toda pressa, duzentos pães, dois odres de vinho, cinco ovelhas preparadas, cinco medidas de trigo tostado, cem cachos de passas e duzentas pastas de figos, e os pôs sobre jumentos, 19 e disse aos seus moços: Ide adiante de mim, pois vos seguirei de perto. Porém nada disse ela a seu marido Nabal. 20 Enquanto ela, cavalgando um jumento, descia, encoberta pelo monte, Davi e seus homens também desciam, e ela se encontrou com eles. 21 Ora, Davi dissera: Com efeito, de nada me serviu ter guardado tudo quanto este possui no deserto, e de nada sentiu falta de tudo quanto lhe pertence; ele me pagou mal por bem. 22 Faça Deus o que lhe aprouver aos inimigos de Davi, se eu deixar, ao amanhecer, um só do sexo masculino dentre os seus.

23 Vendo, pois, Abigail a Davi, apressou-se, desceu do jumento e prostrou-se sobre o rosto diante de Davi, inclinando-se até à terra. 24 Lançou-se-lhe aos pés e disse: Ah! Senhor meu, caia a culpa sobre mim; permite falar a tua serva contigo e ouve as palavras da tua serva. 25 Não se importe o meu senhor com este homem de Belial, a saber, com Nabal; porque o que significa o seu nome ele é. Nabal é o seu nome, e a loucura está com ele; eu, porém, tua serva, não vi os moços de meu senhor, que enviaste. 26 Agora, pois, meu senhor, tão certo como vive o Senhor e a tua alma, foste pelo Senhor impedido de derramar sangue e de vingar-te por tuas próprias mãos. Como Nabal, sejam os teus inimigos e os que procuram fazer mal ao meu senhor. 27 Este é o presente que trouxe a tua serva a meu senhor; seja ele dado aos moços que seguem ao meu senhor. 28 Perdoa a transgressão da tua serva; pois, de fato, o Senhor te fará casa firme, porque pelejas as batalhas do Senhor, e não se ache mal em ti por todos os teus dias. 29 Se algum homem se levantar para te perseguir e buscar a tua vida, então, a tua vida será atada no feixe dos que vivem com o Senhor, teu Deus; porém a vida de teus inimigos, este a arrojará como se a atirasse da cavidade de uma funda. 30 E há de ser que, usando o Senhor contigo segundo todo o bem que tem dito a teu respeito e te houver estabelecido príncipe sobre Israel, 31 então, meu senhor, não te será por tropeço, nem por pesar ao coração o sangue que, sem causa, vieres a derramar e o te haveres vingado com as tuas próprias mãos; quando o Senhor te houver feito o bem, lembrar-te-ás da tua serva.

32 Então, Davi disse a Abigail: Bendito o Senhor, Deus de Israel, que, hoje, te enviou ao meu encontro. 33 Bendita seja a tua prudência, e bendita sejas tu mesma, que hoje me tolheste de derramar sangue e de que por minha própria mão me vingasse. 34 Porque, tão certo como vive o Senhor, Deus de Israel, que me impediu de que te fizesse mal, se tu não te apressaras e me não vieras ao encontro, não teria ficado a Nabal, até ao amanhecer, nem um sequer do sexo masculino. 35 Então, Davi recebeu da mão de Abigail o que esta lhe havia trazido e lhe disse: Sobe em paz à tua casa; bem vês que ouvi a tua petição e a ela atendi.

36 Voltou Abigail a Nabal. Eis que ele fazia em casa um banquete, como banquete de rei; o seu coração estava alegre, e ele, já mui embriagado, pelo que não lhe referiu ela coisa alguma, nem pouco nem muito, até ao amanhecer. 37 Pela manhã, estando Nabal já livre do vinho, sua mulher lhe deu a entender aquelas coisas; e se amorteceu nele o coração, e ficou ele como pedra. 38 Passados uns dez dias, feriu o Senhor a Nabal, e este morreu.

39 Ouvindo Davi que Nabal morrera, disse: Bendito seja o Senhor, que pleiteou a causa da afronta que recebi de Nabal e me deteve de fazer o mal, fazendo o Senhor cair o mal de Nabal sobre a sua cabeça. Mandou Davi falar a Abigail que desejava tomá-la por mulher. 40 Tendo ido os servos de Davi a Abigail, no Carmelo, lhe disseram: Davi nos mandou a ti, para te levar por sua mulher. 41 Então, ela se levantou, e se inclinou com o rosto em terra, e disse: Eis que a tua serva é criada para lavar os pés aos criados de meu senhor. 42 Abigail se apressou e, dispondo-se, cavalgou um jumento com as cinco moças que a assistiam; e ela seguiu os mensageiros de Davi, que a recebeu por mulher.

43 Também tomou Davi a Ainoã de Jezreel, e ambas foram suas mulheres, 44 porque Saul tinha dado sua filha Mical, mulher de Davi, a Palti, filho de Laís, o qual era de Galim.

1 And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves 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 the woman was 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 was shearing his sheep. 5 And David sent 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 unto thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. 7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: thy shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there aught missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee: wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes; for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thy 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 are 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 of whom I know not whence they are? 12 So David’s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. 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 baggage.

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 at them. 15 But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields: 16 they were a wall unto us both by night and by 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 house: for he is such a worthless fellow, that one 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 grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. 19 And she said unto her young men, 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 her ass, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down toward 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 returned me evil for good. 22 God do so unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.

23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and alighted from her ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24 And she fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity; and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. 25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing Jehovah hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 And now this present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28 Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid: for Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of Jehovah; and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days. 29 And though men be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Jehovah thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel, 31 that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood without cause, or that my lord hath avenged himself. And when Jehovah shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid.

32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me: 33 and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. 34 For in very deed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, who hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. 35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said unto her, Go up in peace to thy 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 And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that Jehovah smote Nabal, so that he died.

39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept back his servant from evil: and the evil-doing of Nabal hath Jehovah returned upon his own head. And David sent and spake concerning 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 hath sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. 41 And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy handmaid is 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 followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives. 44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran. [^1]

2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

3 His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings —he was a Calebite.

4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.

5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.

6 Say to him: 'Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

7 "'Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing.

8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.'"

9 When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David's name. Then they waited.

10 Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days.

11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?"

12 David's men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word.

13 David said to his men, "Each of you strap on your sword!" So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them.

15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.

16 Night and day they were a wall 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 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 "of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

19 Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll follow you." But she did not tell 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. He has paid me back evil for good.

22 May God deal with David, "be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male 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.

24 She fell at his feet and said: "Pardon your servant, my lord, 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, 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 and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.

27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

28 "Please forgive your servant's presumption. The LORD your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the LORD's battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live.

29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.

30 When the LORD has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel,

31 my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant."

32 David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.

33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.

34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak."

35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, "Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request."

36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak.

37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.

38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head." Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.

40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, "David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife."

41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, "I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord's servants."

42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David's messengers and became his wife.

43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.

44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel "son of Laish, who was from Gallim.