Day 131 of 730

¹Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

²There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

³Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful face: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.

⁴David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

⁵David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

⁶You shall tell him, 'Long life to you! Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

⁷Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we did not hurt them, neither was there anything missing from them, all the while they were in Carmel.

⁸Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes; for we come in a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.'"

⁹When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

¹⁰Nabal answered David's servants, and said, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.

¹¹Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I do not know where they come from?"

¹²So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words.

¹³David said to his men, "Every man put on his sword!" Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David; and two hundred stayed by the baggage.

¹⁴But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to Greet our master; and he railed at them.

¹⁵But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields.

¹⁶They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

¹⁷Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house; for he is such a worthless fellow that one can't speak to him."

¹⁸Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two bottles of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

¹⁹She said to her young men, "Go on before me. Behold, I come after you." But she did not tell her husband, Nabal.

²⁰It was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.

²¹Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.

²²God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall."

²³When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and got off from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.

²⁴She fell at his feet, and said, "On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and please let your handmaid speak in your ears. Hear the words of your handmaid.

²⁵Please do not let my lord regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your handmaid, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

²⁶Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

²⁷Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

²⁸Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in you all your days.

²⁹Though men may rise up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies, as from the hollow of a sling.

³⁰It shall come to pass, when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you prince over Israel,

³¹that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid."

³²David said to Abigail, "Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

³³Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, that have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

³⁴For indeed, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn't have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall."

³⁵So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice, and have granted your request."

³⁶Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken. Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

³⁷It happened in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

³⁸It happened about ten days after, that the Lord struck Nabal, so that he died.

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed is the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. The Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife.

⁴⁰When the servants of David had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife."

⁴¹She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, "Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."

⁴²Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies of hers who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

⁴³David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives.

⁴⁴Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

¹The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, "Doesn't David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?"

²Then 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.

³Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

⁴David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had certainly come.

⁵David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army: and Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around him.

⁶Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?" Abishai said, "I will go down with you."

⁷So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay around him.

⁸Then Abishai said to David, "God has delivered up your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time."

⁹David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?"

¹⁰David said, "As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.

¹¹The Lord forbid that I should put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go."

¹²So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head; and they went away: and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen on them.

¹³Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off; a great space being between them;

¹⁴and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, "Do you not answer, Abner?" Then Abner answered, "Who are you who cries to the king?"

¹⁵David said to Abner, "Aren't you a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord, the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord.

¹⁶This thing isn't good that you have done. As the Lord lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord's anointed. Now see where the king's spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head."

¹⁷Saul knew David's voice, and said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" David said, "It is my voice, my lord, O king."

¹⁸He said, "Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand?

¹⁹Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day that I shouldn't cling to the Lord's inheritance, saying, 'Go, serve other gods!'

²⁰Now therefore, do not let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

²¹Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly."

²²David answered, "Behold the spear, O king! Then let one of the young men come over and get it.

²³The Lord will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because the Lord delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn't put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed.

²⁴Behold, as your life was respected this day in my eyes, so let my life be respected in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all oppression."

²⁵Then Saul said to David, "You are blessed, my son David. You shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail." So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

¹Lord, my heart isn't haughty, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me.

²Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

³Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore.

¹My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

⁵that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

⁸passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.

¹¹She is loud and defiant. Her feet do not stay in her house.

¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.

¹⁹For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

²¹With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

²²He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

²³Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways. Do not go astray in her paths,

²⁶for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.