Study Desk

(now the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite),

and this is what you shall say: 'Have a long life, peace to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!

'Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.'"

"They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep.

"Now then, be aware and consider what you should do, because harm is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him."

Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine, and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain, and a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she loaded them on donkeys.

"Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

this will not become an obstacle to you, or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord's having avenged himself. When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your slave."

Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was cheerful within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything at all until the morning light.

But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became like a stone.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of the shame inflicted on me by the hand of Nabal, and has kept back His servant from evil. The LORD has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

And she got up and bowed with her face to the ground, and said, "Behold, your slave is a servant to wash the feet of my lord's servants."

Then Abigail got up quickly, and rode on a donkey, with her five female attendants who accompanied her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

Then Abishai said to David, "Today God has handed your enemy over to you; now then, please let me pin him with the spear to the ground with one thrust, and I will not do it to him a second time."

So David took the spear and the jug of water that were at Saul's head, and they left; and no one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone awaken, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.

Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance with a large area between them.

So David said to Abner, "Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came to kill the king your lord!

"Now then, do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD; for the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, just as one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again since my life was precious in your sight this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have made a very great mistake."

Then David said to Achish, "If now I have found favor in your sight, have them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, so that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?"