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¹Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him at his house in Ramah. Then David left and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

²Now there was a man in Maon whose business and possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel

³(now the man's name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings; he was a Calebite).

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

⁵So David 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;

⁶and this is what you shall say, ' Have a long life! Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.

⁷Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us and we have not harmed them, nor were they missing anything all the time they were in Carmel.

⁸Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight [and be well-treated], for we have come on a good (festive) day. Please, give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.'"

⁹When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David; then they waited.

¹⁰But Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today, each of whom is breaking away from his master.

¹¹So should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?"

¹²So David's young men made their way back and returned; and they came and told him everything that was said [to them by Nabal].

¹³David said to his men, "Each man put on your sword." So each man put on his sword. David also put on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed back with the provisions and supplies.

¹⁴But one of Nabal's young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "Listen, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless (greet) our master, and he shouted at them [in contempt].

¹⁵But David's men were very good to us, and we were not harmed or treated badly, nor did we miss anything as long as we were with them, when we were in the fields.

¹⁶They were a wall [of protection] to us both night and day, all the time that we were with them tending the sheep.

¹⁷Now then, know this and consider what you should do, for evil is [already] planned against our master and against all his household; but he is such a worthless and wicked man that one cannot speak [reasonably] to him."

¹⁸Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two jugs of wine, five sheep already prepared [for roasting], five measures of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

¹⁹She said to her young men (servants), "Go on ahead of me; behold, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰It happened that as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by [way of] the hidden part of the mountain, that suddenly David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them.

²¹Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have protected and guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing of all that belonged to him; and he has repaid me evil for good.

²²May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave [alive] even one male of any who belong to him."

²³When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from the donkey, and kneeled face downward before David and bowed down to the ground [in respect].

²⁴Kneeling at his feet she said, "My lord, let the blame and guilt be on me alone. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant.

²⁵Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal (fool) is his name and foolishness (stupidity) is with him; but I your maidservant did not see my lord's young men whom you sent.

²⁶So now, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, since the LORD has prevented you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord, be as [self-destructive as] Nabal.

²⁷Now this gift, which your maidservant has brought my lord, let it be given to the young men who accompany and follow my lord.

²⁸Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the LORD will certainly make my lord a secure and enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil will not be found in you all your days.

²⁹Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound in the [precious] bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies—those He will hurl out as from the center of a sling.

³⁰And it will happen when the LORD does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken (promised) concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel,

³¹that this [incident] will not cause grief or [bring] a troubled conscience to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember [with favor] your maidservant."

³²David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day.

³³And blessed be your discretion and discernment, and blessed be you, who has kept me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself by my own hand.

³⁴Nevertheless, as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, most certainly by the morning light there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male."

³⁵So David accepted what she had brought to him and said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and have granted your request."

³⁶Then Abigail came to Nabal, and he was holding a feast in his house [for the shearers], like the feast of a king. And Nabal's mood was joyous because he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

³⁷But in the morning, when Nabal was sober, and his wife told him these things, his heart died within him and he became [paralyzed and helpless] like a stone.

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

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach [suffered] at the hand of Nabal and has kept His servant from [retaliating with] evil. For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent word to Abigail, proposing to take her as his wife.

⁴⁰When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, "David sent us to you to take you [to him] to be his wife."

⁴¹And she stood and bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Behold, your maidservant is [ready to be] a maid to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."

⁴²Then Abigail quickly got up, and rode on a donkey, with five of her maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

⁴³David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives.

⁴⁴But Saul had given Michal his [younger] daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

¹The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Is David not hiding on the hill of Hachilah, east of Jeshimon?"

²So Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David [there] in the wilderness of Ziph.

³Saul camped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road east of Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came into the wilderness after him,

⁴David sent out spies, and he learned that Saul was definitely coming.

⁵So David arose and went to the place where Saul had camped, and saw the spot where Saul lay, as well as Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army; and Saul was lying inside the circle of the camp, with the army camped around him.

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

⁷So David and Abishai went to the army during the night, and there was Saul lying asleep inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him.

⁸Then Abishai said to David, "God has given your enemy into your hand this day; now then, please let me strike him with the spear driving it to the ground with one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time."

⁹But David said to Abishai, "Do not kill him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed [king] and be guiltless (innocent)?"

¹⁰David also said, "As the LORD lives, most certainly the LORD will strike him [in His own time and way], or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be carried off [dead].

¹¹The LORD forbid that I would put out my hand against the Lord's anointed; but now take the spear that is by his head and the jug of water, and let us go."

¹²So David took the spear and the jug of water from beside Saul's head, and they left, and no one saw or knew nor did anyone awaken, because they were all sound asleep, for a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.

¹³Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on the top of the mountain at a distance, with a large area between them.

¹⁴David called to the army and to Abner the son of Ner, "Will you not answer, Abner?" Abner replied, "Who are you who calls [and disturbs] the king?"

¹⁵David said to Abner, "Are you not a [brave] man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came [into your camp] to kill the king your lord.

¹⁶This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you surely deserve to die, because you have not guarded your lord, the Lord's anointed. And now, see where the king's spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head."

¹⁷Then Saul recognized David's voice and said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" And David said, "It is my voice, my lord the king!"

¹⁸And David said, "Why is my lord pursuing 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 the LORD has incited you against me, let Him accept an offering [from me]; but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD, because they have driven me out this day to keep me from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, 'Go, serve other gods.'

²⁰Now then, do not let my blood fall to the ground away from the presence of the LORD; for the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, just as when one hunts a [defenseless] partridge in the mountains."

²¹Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again because my life was precious in your sight this day. Hear me, I have played the fool and have done a very great wrong [to you]."

²²David answered, "Look, here is the king's spear! Now let one of the young men come over and get it.

²³The LORD will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD handed you over to me today, but I refused to put out my hand against the Lord's anointed.

²⁴Now behold, just as your life was precious in my sight this day, so let my life be precious in the sight of the LORD, and may He rescue me from all distress."

²⁵Then Saul said to David, "May you be blessed, my son David; you will both accomplish much and certainly prevail." So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

¹But David said in his heart, "Now I will die one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me inside the borders of Israel, and I will escape from his hand [once and for all]."

²So David and the six hundred men who were with him arose and crossed over to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

³And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, [who was] Nabal's widow.

⁴When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

⁵Then David said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your sight, let me be given a place [of my own] in one of the cities in the country, so that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?"

⁶Then Achish gave David [the town of] Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

⁷The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.

⁸Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites [the enemies of Israel that Joshua had failed to annihilate]; for they had inhabited the land from ancient times, as one comes to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt.

⁹David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, but he took the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing, and returned to Achish.

¹⁰When Achish asked, "Where did you raid today?" David replied, "Against the Negev (the South country) of Judah, and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites, and against the Negev of the Kenites."

¹¹David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring news to Gath, saying [to himself], "Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, 'This is what David has done, and this has been his practice all the time that he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'"

¹²Achish believed David, saying, "He has certainly become hated by his people in Israel; so he will always be my servant."