Study Desk

And then, as she was riding on the donkey and was going down the ravine of the mountain, David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she met them.

Now David had said, "Surely in vain I guarded all that this fellow had in the desert. And nothing was missed of all that was his, but he returned evil against me in place of good!

May God severely punish the enemies of David and again do thus if I leave behind anything that is his until the morning, not even one male!"

She fell at his feet and said, "On me, my lord, be the guilt! Please let your female servant speak to you personally! Hear the words of your female servant!

Please do not let my lord set his heart against this worthless man, Nabal; for as his name, so is he. Nabal is his name, and stupidity is with him! But I, your female servant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

then this will not be an obstacle for you or a stumbling block of conscience for my lord either by the shedding of blood without cause or by my lord taking matters into his own hands. And when Yahweh does good to my lord, then remember your female servant."

Then Abigail went to Nabal, and look, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of the king. Nabal was enjoying himself, and he was very drunk, so she did not tell him a thing, nothing at all, until the light of morning.

And then in the morning when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words. Then his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife.

So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you for his wife."

Then Abigail quickly got up and rode on the donkey, along with five of her maidservants who attended her, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

(Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.)

Then David got up and came to the place where Saul had encamped, and David saw the place where Saul was lying down, as well as Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. (Now Saul was lying in the encampment, and the army was encamping around him.)

So David and Abishai came to the army by night, and there was Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army were lying all around him.

But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?"

And David said, "As Yahweh lives, certainly Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and perish.

Yahweh forbid me from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that is near his head and the jar of water, and let us go."

This thing that you have done is not good. As Yahweh lives, surely you people deserve to die since you have not kept watch over your lord, over Yahweh's anointed one! So then, see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was near his head!"

Then he said, "Why is my lord pursuing after his servant? For what have I done? And what evil is in my hand?