Then Samuel  ¹died, and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him; and they buried him at his house in Ramah.

And David rose up and went down into the wilderness of Paran.

Now there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very wealthy: He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And at that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

And the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. And the woman had good discernment and was beautiful in appearance. But the man was hard, and he was evil in his doings; and he was a Calebite.

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

So 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.

And thus shall you say, Live long; and peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

Now therefore I hear that you have shearers; your shepherds have now been with us, and we have not harmed them, nor has there been anything missing from them, all the time they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let these young men find favor in your sight, for we come in a good time. Give whatever you may have on hand to your servants and to your son David.

So David's young men went and spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David; then they waited.

But Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David, or who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who break away from their masters.

Shall I then take my food and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?

Then David's young men turned back on their way. And they returned and came and told him all these things.

And David said to his men, Each man gird on his sword. And each man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And they went up after David, about four hundred men. And two hundred remained with the baggage.

But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, David has just sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he shouted insultingly at them.

But the men were very good to us; and we were not harmed, nor did we miss anything all the time we went with them when we were in the fields.

They were a wall to us both by night and by day all the time we were with them tending the sheep.

Now therefore know and consider what you will do, because evil has been determined against our master and against all his house; for he is so worthless a man that no one can speak to him.

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

And she said to her young men, Go on before me; I am coming right behind you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

And as she rode on her donkey and came down under the cover of the mountain, David and his men at that moment came down toward her; and she met them.

Now David had said,  ¹It was certainly in vain that I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that he has; for he has repaid me evil for good.

May God do so to David's enemies, and even more, if I leave so much as a male child of all that he has until morning.

And when Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from her donkey and fell on her face before David; and she bowed herself to the ground.

And she fell at his feet and said, Upon me alone, my lord, be this iniquity; and let your female servant speak in your hearing, and hear the words of your female servant.

May my lord not take this worthless man Nabal to heart. For as his name is, so he is:  ¹Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your female servant did not see my lord's young men, whom you sent.

And now, my lord, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, since Jehovah has withheld you from entering into bloodshed and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek harm against my lord be like Nabal.

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

Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, for Jehovah will no doubt make a sure house for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of Jehovah; and no evil will be found in you throughout your days.

And though men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, my lord's life will be bound up in the bundle of the living with Jehovah your God; and the lives of your enemies He will sling out, as from the hollow of the sling.

And when Jehovah has done to my lord according to all the good He has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler over Israel,

This will not be a qualm of conscience to you or a stumbling block in heart to my lord, that you shed blood without cause or that my lord has avenged himself. And when Jehovah has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your female servant.

And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me.

And blessed be your discretion; and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from entering into bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

For surely as Jehovah the God of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, indeed there would not have been left to Nabal even a male child until morning's light.

So David took from her hand what she brought to him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice and have accepted your person.

And Abigail went to Nabal. And just then he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, and he was extremely drunk; therefore she told him nothing, small or great, until the light of morning.

And in the morning, when the wine had left Nabal, his wife told him these things. And his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.

And about ten days later Jehovah struck Nabal, and he died.

And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal and who has withheld His servant from evildoing; and Jehovah has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent men to propose to Abigail, that he might take her to himself as  ¹wife.

And when David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to himself as wife.

And she rose up and fell on her face to the ground. And she said, Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants.

And Abigail hurried and rose up; and she rode on a donkey, with her five young women following her. And she went after the messengers of David, and she became his wife.

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

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

And the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, David is hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite the desert!

And Saul rose up and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, with him three thousand choice men of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite the desert, by the road. And David remained in the wilderness, but he saw that Saul had come into the wilderness after him.

And David sent spies and knew for certain that Saul had come.

So David rose up and went to the place where Saul encamped. And David looked on the place where Saul and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army, lay. Now Saul was lying within the entrenchment, and the people were encamped around him.

And David responded and spoke to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai the son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul at the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with you.

So David and Abishai went to the people by night; and there lay Saul, sleeping within the entrenchment, and his spear was stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay around him.

And Abishai said to David, God has delivered your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore let me strike him with the spear even to the ground with one stroke, and I will not do it twice.

But David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against Jehovah's  ¹anointed and be guiltless?

And David said, As Jehovah lives, Jehovah will strike him down, or his day will come to die, or he will go down in battle and perish.

Jehovah forbid that I should stretch out my hand against Jehovah's anointed. Now therefore take the spear that is by his head and the water jug, and let us go.

So David took the spear and the water jug by Saul's head, and they went away. And no one saw it or knew about it, nor did anyone awake, for all of them were sleeping; for a deep sleep from Jehovah had fallen upon them.

And David crossed over to the other side and stood on the top of the hill far off; a great distance was between them.

And David called out to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Will you not answer, Abner? And Abner answered and said, Who are you that calls out to the king?

And David said to Abner, Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord.

This thing is not good that you have done. As Jehovah lives, you are as good as dead because you did not guard your lord, Jehovah's anointed. Now therefore, see where the king's spear and the water jug that were by his head are.

And Saul recognized David's voice; and he said, Is this your voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.

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

Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is Jehovah who has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering; but if it is the sons of men, let them be cursed before Jehovah; for they have  ¹driven me out today, so that I cannot share in Jehovah's inheritance, saying, Go, serve other gods.

Now therefore do not let my blood fall to the ground apart from the presence of Jehovah; for the king of Israel has come forth to seek a single flea, as one might hunt a partridge in the mountains.

And Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will not harm you anymore, because my life was precious in your sight this day. I have indeed acted foolishly and have made a very great mistake.

And David answered and said, Here is the spear, O king. Let one of the young men cross over and get it.

And Jehovah will repay to each man his righteousness and faithfulness: Because Jehovah has delivered you into my hand today, and I would not stretch out my hand against Jehovah's anointed;

Then just as great as your life was in my eyes this day, so great may my life be in Jehovah's eyes that He would deliver me from all distress.

And Saul said to David, Blessed are you, my son David. You shall most certainly both do and prevail. And David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

And David said in his heart, I will now one day perish at the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines; then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within all the territory of Israel. Thus I will escape from his hand.

So David rose up and  ¹crossed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath.

And David and his men remained with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each man with his household: David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite.

And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer sought him.

And David said to Achish, If now I have found favor in your sight, let me be given a place in one of the country towns; and I will dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?

So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.

And the length of time that David remained in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.

Now David and his men went up and attacked the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites, for they were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur and unto the land of Egypt.

And David struck the land; and he left neither man nor woman alive but took the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish.

Then Achish said,  ¹Against whom have you conducted an attack today? And David said, Against the south of Judah and against the south of the Jerahmeelites and against the south of the Kenites.

Now David left neither man nor woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he said, Perhaps they will tell of us, saying, Thus did David do. And such was his custom as long as he dwelt in the country of the Philistines.

And Achish trusted David, saying, He has made himself utterly odious to his people Israel; therefore he shall be my servant forever.