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And Dauid sware vnto Saul, and Saul went home: but Dauid and his men gate them vp vnto the holde.

And Samuel died, and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And Dauid arose, & went downe to the wildernesse of Paran.

And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great, and hee had three thousand sheepe, and a thousand goates: and he was shearing his sheepe in Carmel.

Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife, Abigail: and shee was a woman of good vnderstanding, and of a beautifull countenance: but the man was churlish and euill in his doings, and hee was of the house of Caleb.

And Dauid heard in the wildernesse, that Nabal did sheare his sheepe.

And Nabal answered Dauids seruants, and said, Who is Dauid? and who is the sonne of Iesse? There bee many seruants now a daies that breake away euery man from his master.

And Dauid said vnto his men, Gird you on euery man his sword. And they girded on euery man his sword, and Dauid also girded on his sword: and there went vp after Dauid about foure hundred men, and two hundred abode by the stuffe.

Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt doe: for euill is determined against our master, and against all his houshold: for he is such a sonne of Belial, that a man cannot speake to him.

And it was so as she rode on the asse, that she came downe by the couert of the hill, and behold, Dauid and his men came downe against her, and she met them.

And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, vpon me let this iniquitie be, and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speake in thine audience, and heare the words of thine handmaid.

Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, euen 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 yong men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king; & Nabals heart was merry within him, for hee was very drunken: wherefore shee tolde him nothing, lesse or more, vntill the morning light.

But it came to passe 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.

And when Dauid heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproch from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his seruant from euil: for the Lord hath returned the wickednesse of Nabal vpon his owne head. And Dauid sent, and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.

And Abigail hasted, and rose, and rode vpon an asse, with fiue damosels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of Dauid, and became his wife.

Dauid also tooke Ahinoam of Iezreel, and they were also both of them his wiues.

But Saul had giuen Michal his daughter, Dauids wife, to Phalti the sonne of Laish, which was of Gallim.

And Dauid arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and Dauid beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the sonne of Ner the captaine of his hoste: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.

So Dauid and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his speare stucke in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.

And Dauid sayd to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed, and be guiltlesse?