1 Faleceu Samuel; todo o Israel se ajuntou, e prantearam-no e enterraram-no na sua casa em Ramá. Davi levantou-se e desceu ao deserto de Parã.

2 Havia um homem em Maom, que tinha o seu negócio no Carmelo; era este homem muito rico, e tinha três mil ovelhas e mil cabras, e estava ocupado em tosquiar as suas ovelhas no Carmelo.

3 Chamava-se o homem Nabal, e sua mulher chamava-se Abigail; era esta mulher sensata e formosa, porém era o homem duro e grosseiro. Era ele da casa de Calebe.

4 Davi ouviu no deserto que Nabal tosquiava as suas ovelhas,

5 e enviou dez mancebos, e disse-lhes: Subi ao Carmelo, ide à casa de Nabal e saudai-o da minha parte.

6 Assim direis àquele próspero: Paz seja a ti, paz seja à tua casa, e paz seja a tudo o que tens.

7 Agora ouvi que tens tosquiadores. Os teus pastores acabam de estar conosco e não mofamos deles, nem perderam eles coisa alguma por todo o tempo que estiveram no Carmelo.

8 Pergunta aos teus mancebos e eles to dirão. Portanto que achem os moços graça aos teus olhos, porque viemos em tão boa ocasião. Dá aos teus servos e a Davi, teu filho, qualquer coisa que tiveres à mão.

9 Tendo chegado os mancebos de Davi, falaram a Nabal todas essas palavras em nome de Davi, e ficaram calados.

10 Nabal respondeu aos servos de Davi: Quem é Davi? quem é o filho de Jessé? muitos são hoje em dia os servos que fogem ao seu senhor.

11 Hei de pegar no meu pão, no meu vinho e na carne das minhas reses que degolei para os que tosquiam as minhas ovelhas, e dá-los a uns homens que não sei donde vêm?

12 Puseram-se a caminho os mancebos de Davi, voltaram e, tendo chegado, contaram-lhe segundo todas estas palavras.

13 Então disse Davi aos seus homens: Cinja cada um a espada. Cada um cingiu a espada, e Davi também cingiu a sua; subiram após Davi cerca de quatrocentos homens, e ficaram duzentos com a bagagem.

14 Um dos mancebos, porém, contou a Abigail, mulher de Nabal, dizendo: Davi enviou do deserto mensageiros a saudar o nosso amo, e este disparatou com eles.

15 Mas os homens nos foram muito bons, e não mofaram de nós, nem perdemos coisa alguma, por todo o tempo em que tivemos relações com eles, quando estávamos nos campos.

16 Eles nos serviam de muro assim de dia como de noite, por todo o tempo que andamos com eles apascentando as ovelhas.

17 Agora considera e vê o que hás de fazer, porque o mal está determinado contra o nosso amo, e contra toda a sua casa. Ele é tal filho de Belial que ninguém lhe pode falar.

18 Apressou-se Abigail, tomou duzentos pães e dois odres de vinho, e cinco ovelhas assadas, e cinco medidas de trigo tostado, e cem cachos de passas, e duzentas pastas de figos, e pô-los em cima de jumentos.

19 Disse aos seus mancebos: Ide adiante de mim, que vos seguirei de perto. Porém ela nada disse a seu marido Nabal.

20 Enquanto montada num jumento, descia ela pelas fraldas do monte, descia-lhe também Davi e seus homens ao encontro; e ela se encontrou com eles.

21 Ora Davi tinha dito: Na verdade de nada me serviu ter eu conservado no deserto tudo o que era deste homem, de maneira que nada perdeu de tudo o que lhe pertencia: ele me tornou mal por bem.

22 Assim faça Deus aos inimigos de Davi e mais ainda, se eu deixar até ao amanhecer de tudo o que lhe pertence, ainda um só menino.

23 Abigail tanto que viu a Davi, apressou-se, desceu do jumento, prostrou-se sobre o rosto diante de Davi e inclinou-se até a terra.

24 Lançou-se-lhe aos pés e disse: Sobre mim caia, meu senhor, a culpa, e deixa falar a tua serva aos teus ouvidos, e ouve as palavras da tua serva.

25 Não se importe o meu senhor com este homem de Belial, a saber, com Nabal; porque tal é ele qual é o seu nome; Nabal é o seu nome e a loucura está com ele. Mas eu, tua serva, não vi os mancebos que tu, meu senhor, enviaste.

26 Agora, meu senhor, pela vida de Jeová e pela tua vida, visto que Jeová te impediu de derramares sangue e de te vingares pela tua própria mão, sejam agora como Nabal os teus inimigos e os que buscam fazer o mal ao meu senhor.

27 Este é o presente que trouxe a tua serva ao meu senhor, seja ele dado aos mancebos que seguem ao meu senhor.

28 Perdoa a transgressão da tua serva; pois sem dúvida Jeová fará do meu senhor uma casa firme, porquanto o meu senhor peleja as batalhas de Jeová; e não se achará em ti o mal todos os teus dias.

29 Se alguém se levantar para te perseguir e buscar a tua vida, será a vida do meu senhor posta no feixe dos que vivem sob a proteção de Jeová teu Deus; mas a vida dos teus inimigos, ele a arrojará como de uma funda.

30 Quando Jeová houver feito ao meu senhor todo o bem que ele falou a teu respeito, e te tiver estabelecido por príncipe sobre Israel;

31 não te será por pesar nem de remorso, meu senhor, por teres derramado sangue sem motivo, ou por se ter o meu senhor vingado a si mesmo. Quando Jeová houver feito o bem ao meu senhor, lembrar-te-ás da tua serva.

32 Davi respondeu a Abigail: Bendito seja Jeová, Deus de Israel, que te enviou hoje ao meu encontro.

33 Bendita seja a tua sabedoria, e bendita sejas tu, que me tolheste de verter sangue e vingar-me, pela minha própria mão.

34 Pois, na verdade, juro pela vida de Jeová, Deus de Israel, que me impediu de fazer o mal, que se tu não te apresentasses, e me não viesses ao encontro, não teria ficado a Nabal até o amanhecer ainda um só menino.

35 Aceitou Davi da mão de Abigail tudo o que lhe trouxera, e disse-lhe: Sobe em paz para a tua casa; vê que dei ouvidos à tua voz, e fiz a tua vontade.

36 Voltou Abigail para Nabal. Eis que ele fazia em casa um banquete, como banquete de rei, e o seu coração se achava alegre, porque estava muito embriagado. Pelo que não lhe referiu coisa alguma, nem pouco nem muito até pela manhã.

37 Pela manhã quando Nabal já estava livre do vinho, contou-lhe sua mulher estas coisas. Teve o seu coração um choque mortal, ficando ele como uma pedra.

38 Passados dez dias, feriu Jeová a Nabal, que morreu.

39 Tendo Davi ouvido que Nabal era morto, disse: Bendito seja Jeová que pleiteou a minha causa a respeito da afronta que recebi de Nabal, e preservou ao seu servo do mal. Pois Jeová fez cair a malignidade de Nabal sobre a sua cabeça. Mandou Davi falar a Abigail, para a receber por mulher.

40 Tendo vindo os servos de Davi a Abigail, ao Carmelo, disseram-lhe: Davi nos enviou a ti, para te tomarmos por sua mulher.

41 Ela se levantou, se prostrou com o rosto em terra e disse: Eis que a tua serva é criada para lavar os pés dos servos do meu senhor.

42 Abigail apressou-se e, levantando-se, montou num jumento; foram com ela cinco moças que lhe assistiam, e ela seguiu os mensageiros de Davi que a recebeu por mulher.

43 Davi também tomou a Ainoã de Jezreel, e ambas foram suas mulheres.

44 Saul tinha dado Mical, sua filha, mulher de Davi, a Palti, filho de Laís, que era de Galim.

1 And death came to Samuel; and all Israel came together, weeping for him, and put his body in its resting-place in his house at Ramah. Then David went down to the waste land of Maon.

2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; he was a great man and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats: and he was cutting the wool of his sheep in Carmel.

3 Now this man was named Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail: she was a woman of good sense and pleasing looks: but the man was cruel and evil in his ways; he was of the family of Caleb.

4 And David had word in the waste land that Nabal was cutting the wool of his sheep.

5 And David sent ten young men, and said to them, Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and say kind words to him in my name;

6 And say this to my brother, May all be well for you: peace be to you and your house and all you have.

7 I have had word that you have wool-cutters: now the keepers of your sheep have been with us, and we have done them no evil, and taken nothing of theirs while they were in Carmel.

8 If your young men are questioned they will say the same thing. So now, let my young men have grace in your eyes, for we are come at a good time; please give anything you may have by you to your servants and to your son David.

9 And when David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal, in David's name, and said nothing more.

10 And Nabal gave them his answer and said, Who is David? who is the son of Jesse? there are a number of servants in these days running away from their masters.

11 Am I to take my bread and my wine and the meat I have got ready for my wool-cutters and give it to men coming from I have no idea where?

12 So David's young men, turning away, went back and gave him an account of everything he had said.

13 And David said to his men, Put on your swords, every one of you. And every man put on his sword; and David did the same; and about four hundred men went up with David, and two hundred kept watch over their goods.

14 But one of the young men said to Nabal's wife Abigail, David sent men from the waste land to say kind words to our master, and he gave them a rough answer.

15 But these men have been very good to us; they did us no wrong and nothing of ours was touched while we were with them in the fields:

16 But day and night they were like a wall round us while we were with them, looking after the sheep.

17 So now, give thought to what you are going to do; for evil is in store for our master and all his house: for he is such a good-for-nothing person that it is not possible to say anything to him.

18 Then Abigail quickly took two hundred cakes of bread and two skins full of wine and five sheep ready for cooking and five measures of dry grain and a hundred parcels of dry grapes and two hundred cakes of figs, and put them on asses.

19 And she said to her young men, Go on in front of me and I will come after you. But she said nothing to her husband Nabal.

20 Now while she was going down under cover of the mountain on her ass, David and his men came down against her, and suddenly she came face to face with them.

21 Now David had said, What was the use of my taking care of this man's goods in the waste land, so that there was no loss of anything which was his? he has only given me back evil for good.

22 May God's punishment be on David, if when morning comes there is so much as one male of his people still living.

23 And when Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her ass, falling down on her face before him.

24 And falling at his feet she said, May the wrong be on me, my lord, on me: let your servant say a word to you, and give ear to the words of your servant.

25 Let my lord give no attention to Nabal, that good-for-nothing: for as his name is, so is he, a man without sense: but I, your servant, did not see the young men whom my lord sent.

26 So now, my lord, by the living God and by your living soul, seeing that the Lord has kept you from the crime of blood and from taking into your hands the punishment for your wrongs, may all your haters, and those who would do evil to my lord, be like Nabal.

27 And let this offering, which your servant gives to my lord, be given to the young men who are with my lord.

28 And may the sin of your servant have forgiveness: for the Lord will certainly make your family strong, because my lord is fighting in the Lord's war; and no evil will be seen in you all your days.

29 And though a man has taken up arms against you, putting your life in danger, still the soul of my lord will be kept safe among the band of the living with the Lord your God; and the souls of those who are against you he will send violently away from him, like stones from a bag.

30 And when the Lord has done for my lord all those good things which he has said he will do for you, and has made you a ruler over Israel;

31 Then you will have no cause for grief, and my lord's heart will not be troubled because you have taken life without cause and have yourself given punishment for your wrongs: and when the Lord has been good to you, then give a thought to your servant.

32 And David said to Abigail, May the Lord, the God of Israel, be praised, who sent you to me today:

33 A blessing on your good sense and on you, who have kept me today from the crime of blood and from taking into my hands the punishment for my wrongs.

34 For truly, by the living Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from doing you evil, if you had not been so quick in coming to me and meeting me, by dawn there would not have been in Nabal's house so much as one male living.

35 Then David took from her hands her offering: and he said to her, Go back to your house in peace; see, I have given ear to your voice, and taken your offering with respect.

36 And Abigail went back to Nabal; and he was feasting in his house like a king; and Nabal's heart was full of joy, for he had taken much wine; so she said nothing to him till dawn came.

37 And in the morning, when the effect of the wine was gone, Nabal's wife gave him an account of all these things, and all the heart went out of him, and he became like stone.

38 And about ten days after, the Lord sent disease on Nabal and death came to him.

39 And David, hearing that Nabal was dead, said, May the Lord be praised, who has taken up my cause against Nabal for the shame which he put on me, and has kept back his servant from evil, and has sent on Nabal's head the reward of his evil-doing. And David sent word to Abigail, desiring to take her as his wife.

40 And when David's servants came to Carmel, to Abigail, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.

41 And she got up, and going down on her face to the earth, said, See, I am ready to be a servant-girl, washing the feet of the servants of my lord.

42 Then Abigail got up quickly and went on her ass, with five of her young women, after the men whom David had sent; and she became David's wife.

43 And David had taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, to be his wife; these two were his wives.

44 Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish of Gallim.