of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of
raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
[19] And she said unto her servants, Go
on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
[20] And it was so, as she
rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came
down against her; and she met them.
[21] Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this
fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath
requited me evil for good.
[22] So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that
pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
[23] And when Abigail saw David,
she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
[24]
And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I
pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
[25] Let not my lord, I pray
thee, regard this man of Belial, even 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 young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
[26] Now
therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee
from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and
they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
[27] And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought
unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
[28] I pray thee, forgive the
trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord
fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
[29] Yet a man is
risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life
with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of
a sling.
[30] And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the
good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
[31] That this
shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless,
or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember
thine handmaid.
[32] And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee
this day to meet me:
[33] And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day
from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
[34] For in very deed, as
the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted
and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth
against the wall.
[35] So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her,
Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
[36]
And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's
heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until
the morning light.
[37] But it came to pass 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.
[38] And it
came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.
[39] And when David heard
that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from
the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of
Nabal upon his own head, And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
[40]
And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David
sent us unto thee to take thee to him to wife.
[41] And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the
earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
[42]
And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and
she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
[43] David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and
they were also both of them his wives.
[44] But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti
the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.
1Sam.26
[1] And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah,
which is before Jeshimon?
[2] Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three
thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
[3] And Saul pitched in
the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he