1 Samuel 25:18-44 ▼

18 Then Abigail made haste, and tooke two hundred loaues, and two bottels of wine, and fiue sheepe redie dressed, and fiue measures of parched corne, and an hundred frailes of reasynges, and two hundred cakes of fygges, & laded them on asses,

19 And sayde vnto her young men: Go before me, beholde I come after you. But she tolde her husband Nabal nothing thereof.

20 And as she rode on her asse, she came priuylie downe the syde of the hill, and behold Dauid and his men came downe against her, and she met them.

21 And Dauid saide: Surelie in vayne haue I kept all that this felow hath in the wildernes, so that nothing was missed of all that pertayned vnto him: and he hath quite me euill for good.

22 So and more also do God vnto the enemies of Dauid, if I leaue of all that pertayne to him by the dawnyng of the day, any that pysseth against the wall.

23 And when Abigail sawe Dauid, she hasted and lyghted of her asse, and fell before Dauid on her face, and bowed her selfe to the grounde,

24 And fell at his feete, and sayde: Let this iniquitie be counted myne my lord, and let thyne handmaide I praye thee speake in thyne audience, & heare the wordes of thy handmayd.

25 Let not my lorde I pray thee regarde this wicked man Nabal: For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, & folly is with him: But I thyne handmayd sawe not the young men of my lorde whom thou sendedst.

26 Now therefore my lorde, as the Lord lyueth, and as thy soule liueth, euen the Lorde that hath withholden thee from comming to shed blood, and saued thee thyne hand: So nowe, I pray God that thyne enemies, & they that intende to do my lorde euyll, may be as Nabal.

27 And now this blessing which thyne handmayd hath brought vnto my lord, let it be geuen vnto the young men that folowe my lorde.

28 I praye thee forgeue the trespasse of thyne handmayd: for the Lorde will make my lord a sure house, because my lorde fighteth the battailes of the Lord, and there could none euill be found in thee in all thy dayes.

29 And yet a man hath rysen to persecute thee, and to seeke thy soule: but the soule of my Lorde shall be bound in the bundel of the lyuyng with the Lord thy God, and the soules of thy enemies shall God cast out, euen as out of the middle of a slyng.

30 And when the Lorde shall haue done to my lord al the good that he hath promysed thee, and shall haue made thee ruler ouer Israel:

31 Then shall it be no griefe vnto thee, nor offence of mynde vnto my lorde, that thou hast not shed blood causelesse, and that my lord hath not auenged him selfe: But when the Lorde shall haue dealt well with my lord, then thinke on thyne handmayde.

32 And Dauid said to Abigail: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meete me.

33 Blessed is thy saying, and blessed art thou which hast kept me this day from comming to shed blood, & from auengeing my selfe with myne owne hande.

34 For in very deede, as the Lorde God of Israel lyueth, which hath kept me backe from hurting thee: except thou haddest hasted and met me, surely there hadde not ben left vnto Nabal by the dawnyng of the day, any that pysseth against the wall.

35 And so Dauid receaued of her hande that which she had brought him, and sayde vnto her: Go vp in peace to thyne house, beholde I haue heard thy voyce, and haue graunted thy petition.

36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and beholde, he held a feast in his house lyke the feast of a king, and Nabals heart was mery within hym, for he was very drunken: Wherfore she tolde him nothyng neither lesse nor more, vntyll the morowe mornyng.

37 But in the morning when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wyfe tolde him these wordes, and his heart dyed within him, and he became as a stone.

38 And vpon a ten dayes after, the Lord smote Nabal, that he dyed.

39 And when Dauid heard that Nabal was dead, he sayd: Blessed be the Lord that hath iudged ye cause of my rebuke of the hand of Nabal, & hath kept his seruaunt from euill: For the Lord hath recompenced the wickednes of Nabal vpon his owne head. And Dauid sent to commune with Abigail, to take her to his wyfe.

40 And when the seruauntes of Dauid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake vnto her, saying: Dauid sent vs vnto thee, to take thee to his wyfe.

41 (25:40) And she arose, & bowed her selfe on her face to the earth, and saide: Beholde, let thy handmayd be a seruaunt, to washe the feete of the seruauntes of my lorde.

42 (25:41) And Abigail hasted, and arose, & gate her vpon an Asse, with fiue damosels of hers that went at her feete, and she went after the messengers of Dauid, & became his wyfe.

43 (25:42) Dauid also toke Ahinoam of Iezrael, and they were both his wyues.

44 (25:43) But Saul had geuen Michol his daughter, Dauids wyfe, to Phalti the sonne of Lais, which was of Gallim.