1And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2And there was a man (ish) in Maon, and his work was in Carmel; and the man (ish) was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and it came to pass, as he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3And the name of the man (ish) was Nabal, and the name of his wife (ishah) was Abigail; and the woman (ishah) was of good understanding and beautiful of form; but the man (ish) was harsh and evil in his doings; and he was a Calebite.
4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, and come to Nabal, and ask him in my name about peace.
6And you shall say thus, 'To life (chai)! And peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that is yours.
7And now I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds who were with us, we did not shame them, and nothing of theirs was missing all the days they were in Carmel.
8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a good day. Give, please, whatever your hand finds, to your servants and to your son David.'"
9And the young men of David came, and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and rested.
10And Nabal answered the servants of David and said, "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today many are the servants who break away, each man (ish) from before his master.
11And shall I take my bread, and my water, and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men (ish) of whom I do not know where they are from?"
12And the young men of David turned to their way, and returned, and came, and told him according to all these words.
13And David said to his men (ish), "Gird on, each man (ish), his sword." And they girded on, each man (ish), his sword; and David also girded on his sword; and about four hundred men (ish) went up after David, and two hundred remained by the baggage.
14But one young man of the young men told Abigail, the wife (ishah) of Nabal, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to bless our master, and he flew at them.
15But the men (ish) were very good to us, and we were not shamed, and we missed nothing all the days we walked about with them, when we were in the field.
16They were a wall around us, both night and day, all the days we were with them, shepherding the sheep.
17And now know and see what you will do, for evil is determined against our master and against all his house; and he is a son of worthlessness, so that one cannot speak to him."
18And Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, and two skins of wine, and five sheep prepared, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on the donkeys.
19And she said to her young men, "Pass on before me; behold, I am coming after you." But to her husband (ish) Nabal she did not tell.
20And it was, as she was riding on the donkey and coming down by the covert of the mountain, that behold, David and his men (ish) were coming down to meet her; and she met them.
21Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have guarded all that this one has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing of all that was his; and he has returned me evil for good.
22So may God do to the enemies of David, and so may He add, if I leave of all that is his until the morning so much as one who urinates against a wall."
23And Abigail saw David, and she hurried and got down from the donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed to the ground.
24And she fell at his feet and said, "On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and let your maidservant, please, speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant.
25Let not my lord, please, set his heart against this man (ish) of worthlessness, against Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
26And now, my lord, as YHWH lives (chai) and as your soul (nephesh) lives (chai), since YHWH has withheld you from coming into bloodshed, and from your hand saving (yasha) yourself, now let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord be as Nabal.
27And now, this blessing which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who walk at the feet of my lord.
28Forgive, please, the transgression of your maidservant; for YHWH will surely make for my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of YHWH, and evil shall not be found in you all your days.
29And though a man (adam) has risen to pursue you and to seek your soul (nephesh), yet the soul (nephesh) of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life (chai) with YHWH your God; but the soul (nephesh) of your enemies — He shall sling it out from within the hollow of the sling.
30And it shall be, when YHWH does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has commanded you (tzivvah) to be ruler over Israel,
31that this shall not be to you a stumbling or an offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has saved (yasha) himself. And when YHWH does good to my lord, then remember your maidservant."
32And David said to Abigail, "Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me.
33And blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from coming into bloodshed, and from my hand saving (yasha) me.
34But indeed, as YHWH lives (chai), the God of Israel, who has withheld me from harming you, that unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the light of the morning so much as one who urinates against a wall."
35And David took from her hand what she had brought him, and to her he said, "Go up in peace to your house; see, I have listened to your voice, and have lifted up your face."
36And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he had a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and the heart of Nabal was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything, small or great, until the light of the morning.
37And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, that his wife (ishah) told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38And it came to pass, about ten days later, that YHWH struck Nabal, and he died.
39And David heard that Nabal was dead, and he said, "Blessed be YHWH, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back His servant from evil; and YHWH has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head." And David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife (ishah).
40And the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife (ishah)."
41And she arose, and bowed with her face to the ground, and said, "Behold, your maidservant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."
42And Abigail hurried and arose, and rode on the donkey, with five of her young women who went at her feet; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife (ishah).
43And Ahinoam David took from Jezreel; and they both became his wives (ishah).
44But Saul had given Michal his daughter, the wife (ishah) of David, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.