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1 Samuel 25

Samuel's Death

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 aThen Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and  bmourned for him, and  cburied him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the  dwilderness of Paran.

Nabal and Abigail

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Now there was a man in  aMaon whose business was in  bCarmel; and the man was very  1rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while  che was shearing his sheep in Carmel

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(now the man's name was Nabal, and his  awife's name was Abigail. And the woman was  1intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was  ba Calebite),

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that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

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So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel,  1visit Nabal and greet him in my name;

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and thus you shall say, ` 1Have a long life,  apeace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

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`Now I have heard  athat you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them,  bnor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel.

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`Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on  aa  1festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.' "

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When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David's name; then they waited.

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But Nabal answered David's servants and said, " aWho is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master.

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"Shall I then  atake my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men  1whose origin I do not know?"

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So David's young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words.

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David said to his men, "Each of you gird on his sword." So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about  afour hundred men went up behind David while two hundred  bstayed with the baggage.

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But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to  1 agreet our master, and he scorned them.

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"Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not  ainsulted, nor did we miss anything  1as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields.

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

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"Now therefore, know and  1consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a  2worthless man that no one can speak to him."

Abigail Intercedes

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

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She said to her young men, " aGo on before me; behold, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

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It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them.

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Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has  areturned me evil for good.

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aMay God do so to the enemies of David, and more also,  bif by morning I leave as much as one  1male of any who belong to him."

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When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David  aand bowed herself to the ground.

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She fell at his feet and said, "On me  1alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak  2to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant.

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"Please do not let my lord  1pay attention to this  2worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he.  3Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

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"Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, since the LORD has restrained you from  1shedding blood, and  afrom  2avenging yourself by your own hand, now then  blet your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.

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"Now let  athis  1gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who  2accompany my lord.

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"Please forgive  athe transgression of your maidservant; for  bthe LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is  cfighting the battles of the LORD, and  devil will not be found in you all your days.

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"Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your  1life, then the  1life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the  1lives of your enemies  aHe will sling out  2as from the hollow of a sling.

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"And when the LORD does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and  aappoints you ruler over Israel,

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this will not  1cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having  2avenged himself.  aWhen the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant."

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Then David said to Abigail, " aBlessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me,

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and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you,  awho have kept me this day from  1bloodshed and from  2avenging myself by my own hand.

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"Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives,  awho has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one  1male."

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So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, " aGo up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to  1you and  2 bgranted your request."

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Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding  aa feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him,  bfor he was very drunk; so  cshe did not tell him anything  1at all until the morning light.

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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 as a stone.

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About ten days later,  athe LORD struck Nabal and he died.

David Marries Abigail

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When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has  apleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and  bhas kept back His servant from evil. The LORD has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent  1 ca proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

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

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She arose  aand bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Behold, your maidservant is a maid  bto wash the feet of my lord's servants."

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Then  aAbigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who  1attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

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David had also taken Ahinoam of  aJezreel, and  bthey both became his wives.

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Now Saul had given  aMichal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from  bGallim.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:23:08 2007)

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