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1 Samuel 25:14-31
New English Translation

14 But one of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet[a] our lord, but he screamed at them. 15 These men were very good to us. They did not insult us, nor did we sustain any loss during the entire time we were together[b] in the field. 16 Both night and day they were a protective wall for us the entire time we were with them, while we were tending our flocks. 17 Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household.[c] He is such a wicked person[d] that no one tells him anything!”

18 So Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, two containers[e] of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs[f] of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19 and said to her servants, “Go on ahead of me. I will come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 Riding on her donkey, she went down under cover of the mountain. David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them. 21 Now David had been thinking,[g] “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil. 22 God will severely punish David,[h] if I leave alive until morning even one male[i] from all those who belong to him!”

23 When Abigail saw David, she got down quickly from the donkey, threw herself facedown before David, and bowed to the ground. 24 Falling at his feet, she said, “My lord, I accept all the guilt! But please let your female servant speak to you! Please listen to the words of your servant! 25 My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means ‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish![j] But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent.[k]

26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, it is the Lord who has kept you from shedding blood and taking matters into your own hands. Now may your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal. 27 Now let this present[l] that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the servants who follow[m] my lord. 28 Please forgive the sin of your servant, for the Lord will certainly establish a lasting dynasty for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. May no evil be found in you all your days! 29 When someone sets out to chase you and to take your life, the life of my lord will be wrapped securely in the bag[n] of the living by the Lord your God. But he will sling away the lives of your enemies from the sling’s pocket! 30 The Lord will do for my lord everything that he promised you,[o] and he will make[p] you a leader over Israel. 31 Your conscience will not be overwhelmed with guilt[q] for having poured out innocent blood and for having taken matters into your own hands. When the Lord has granted my lord success,[r] please remember your servant.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 25:14 tn Heb “bless.”
  2. 1 Samuel 25:15 tn Heb “all the days we walked about with them when we were.”
  3. 1 Samuel 25:17 tn Heb “all his house” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “his whole family.”
  4. 1 Samuel 25:17 tn Heb “he is a son of worthlessness.”
  5. 1 Samuel 25:18 tn Heb “skins.”
  6. 1 Samuel 25:18 sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.
  7. 1 Samuel 25:21 tn Heb “said.”
  8. 1 Samuel 25:22 tc Heb “Thus God will do to the enemies of David and thus he will add.” Most of the Old Greek ms tradition has simply “David,” with no reference to his enemies. In OT imprecations such as the one found in v. 22 it is common for the speaker to direct malediction toward himself as an indication of the seriousness with which he regards the matter at hand. In other words, the speaker invites on himself dire consequences if he fails to fulfill the matter expressed in the oath. However, in the situation alluded to in v. 22 the threat actually does not come to fruition due to the effectiveness of Abigail’s appeal to David on behalf of her husband Nabal. Instead, David is placated through Abigail’s intervention. It therefore seems likely that the reference to “the enemies of David” in the MT of v. 22 is the result of a scribal attempt to deliver David from the implied consequences of this oath. The present translation follows the LXX rather than the MT here.
  9. 1 Samuel 25:22 tn Heb “one who urinates against a wall” (also in v. 34); KJV “any that pisseth against the wall.” At first this may seem to be a vulgar phrase because it refers to a bodily function and David is angry. But David uses the same phrase when he speaks in a conciliatory way to Abigail in v. 34. There is no clear point to his using a vulgar phrase in that context. Similarly for the narrator in 1 Kgs 16:11 and the Lord’s oracles in 1 Kgs 14:10; 21:21; 2 Kgs 9:8, any rhetorical reason for vulgarity is unclear. The phrase refers to males, is not with certainty crude, and the addition of the phrase “at a wall” does not communicate well in the modern setting. We we have chosen to simply use “male” for this phrase.
  10. 1 Samuel 25:25 tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”
  11. 1 Samuel 25:25 tn Heb “my lord’s servants, whom you sent.”
  12. 1 Samuel 25:27 tn Heb “blessing.”
  13. 1 Samuel 25:27 tn Heb “are walking at the feet of.”
  14. 1 Samuel 25:29 tn Cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “bundle”; NLT “treasure pouch.”
  15. 1 Samuel 25:30 tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”
  16. 1 Samuel 25:30 tn Heb “appoint.”
  17. 1 Samuel 25:31 tn Heb “and this will not be for you for staggering and for stumbling of the heart of my lord.”
  18. 1 Samuel 25:31 tn Heb “and the Lord will do well for my lord.”
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