1 Samuel

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

1Samuel died. He was a prophet, a man who told people what God said. All Israel came together and cried for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David went down to the desert of Paran.

2And there 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.

2A very rich man lived in Maon. His land and work were in Carmel. He owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was cutting the wool off his sheep in Carmel.

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

3The man's name was Nabal. His wife's name was Abigail. She was smart, and she was beautiful. But Nabal was rude and mean in the way he treated people. His family came from Caleb.

4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.

4David was out in the desert. He heard that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep.

5And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:

5So David sent ten young men. He told them, "Go up to Carmel. Find Nabal. Say hello to him for me."

6And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.

6"Say this to him: 'I hope you live a long life. Peace to you. Peace to your family and to everything you own.'"

7And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.

7"'I hear that it is time to cut your sheep's wool. Your shepherds were out with us. We never hurt them. Nothing of theirs went missing the whole time they were in Carmel.'"

8Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

8"'Ask your young men. They will tell you it is true. So please be kind to my men. We have come on a feast day. Please give us whatever food you can spare. Give it to your servants and to your son David.'"

9And when David’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

9David's young men came and said all these words to Nabal for David. Then they waited.

10And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.

10Nabal answered them, "Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Lots of servants run away from their masters these days."

11Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?

11"Why should I give away my bread and my water? Why give away the meat I cooked for my workers? I do not even know where these men come from."

12So David’s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.

12So David's young men turned around. They went back and told David every word Nabal had said.

13And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.

13David told his men, "Put on your swords!" Every man put on his sword. David put his on too. About four hundred men went up with David. Two hundred stayed behind with the supplies.

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

14One of Nabal's workers went and told Abigail, Nabal's wife. "David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master. But he yelled at them."

15But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:

15"Those men were very good to us. They never hurt us. Nothing of ours went missing while we lived near them out in the fields."

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

16"They were like a wall around us, day and night. They kept us safe the whole time we watched the sheep."

17Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.

17"So think hard about what you should do. Trouble is coming for our master and everyone in his house. He is so mean that nobody can talk to him."

18Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles 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.

18Abigail hurried. She took two hundred loaves of bread and two leather bags of wine. She took five sheep already cooked and five big baskets of roasted grain. She took a hundred bunches of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded it all onto donkeys.

Note"Corn" in the King James Bible means grain of any kind, like wheat or barley. It does not mean the yellow corn on a cob.

19And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.

19She told her servants, "Go on ahead of me. I will come along behind you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20And 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.

20She rode her donkey down a hidden path in the hills. Just then David and his men came down toward her. She met them there.

21Now 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.

21David had just been saying, "I guarded this man's things in the desert for nothing. Not one thing of his went missing. And he paid me back with meanness instead of kindness."

22So 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.

22"May God punish me if I leave even one of Nabal's men alive by morning."

NoteThe King James Bible uses a rough old saying here that means "every male." David is promising to kill all the men in Nabal's house.

23And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down off her donkey. She bowed low with her face to the ground.

24And 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.

24She fell at his feet and said, "My lord, put the blame on me. Please let me speak to you. Please listen to my words."

25Let 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.

25"Please pay no attention to that mean man Nabal. His name means 'Fool,' and he acts like one. I never saw the young men you sent."

26Now 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.

26"As surely as the LORD lives, and as surely as you live, the LORD has held you back. He has kept you from killing and from paying people back yourself. May your enemies end up like Nabal."

27And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.

27"Now please take this gift I brought you. Let it be given to the young men who follow you."

28I 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.

28"Please forgive me for the trouble. The LORD will keep your family strong for a long time. You fight the LORD's battles. May nothing evil be found in you as long as you live."

29Yet 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.

29"A man is chasing you and wants to kill you. But the LORD your God will hold your life safe with him. He will throw your enemies away like a stone from a sling."

30And 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;

30"The LORD promised good things for you. He will do every one of them. He will make you the ruler over Israel."

31That 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.

31"Then you will not feel sad or guilty inside. You will not have killed people for no reason. You will not have paid them back yourself. And when the LORD is good to you, please remember me."

32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:

32David said to Abigail, "Thank the LORD, the God of Israel. He sent you to meet me today."

33And 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.

33"Bless your good thinking, and bless you. Today you kept me from killing. You kept me from paying Nabal back myself."

34For 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.

34"As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, he stopped me from hurting you. If you had not hurried out to meet me, not one man of Nabal's would be alive by morning."

35So 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.

35So David took the gift she had brought him. He said, "Go home in peace. See, I have listened to you. I will do what you asked."

36And 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.

36Abigail went home to Nabal. He was having a big feast, like a king's feast. He felt happy, and he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until morning.

37But 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.

37In the morning Nabal was not drunk anymore. His wife told him everything. His heart failed inside him. He went stiff and still, like a stone.

38And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.

38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.

39And 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.

39David heard that Nabal was dead. He said, "Thank the LORD. He stood up for me when Nabal insulted me. He kept me, his servant, from doing wrong. Nabal's own meanness came back on his own head." Then David sent a message to Abigail. He asked her to be his wife.

40And 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.

40David's servants came to Abigail in Carmel. They said, "David sent us to you. He wants you to be his wife."

41And 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.

41She stood up and bowed with her face to the ground. She said, "I am here to serve. I will even wash the feet of my lord's servants."

NoteRoads were dusty and people wore sandals. Washing a guest's feet was a job for the lowest servant, so Abigail is saying she will take the humblest place.

42And 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.

42Abigail hurried and got on a donkey. Five of her servant girls went with her. She followed David's messengers, and she became his wife.

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

43David had also married Ahinoam from the town of Jezreel. So both women were his wives.

44But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.

44But Saul had given his daughter Michal to another man. Michal had been David's wife. Saul gave her to Phalti, son of Laish, from Gallim.