Old Testament

New Testament

1 Samuel 25:14-26 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

14. Then it was reported to Abigail, the wife of Nabal, by one of his servants, saying: "Behold, David has sent messengers from the desert, so that they might speak kindly to our lord. But he turned them away.

15. These men were good enough to us, and were not troublesome. Neither did we ever lose anything, during the entire time that we conversed with them in the desert.

16. They were a wall to us, as much in the night as in the day, during all the days that we were with them, pasturing the sheep.

17. For this reason, consider and realize what you should do. For evil has been decided against your husband and against your house. And he is a son of Belial, so that no one is able to speak to him."

18. And so Abigail hurried, and she took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five cooked sheep, and five measures of cooked grain, and one hundred clusters of dried grapes, and two hundred masses of dried figs, and she set them upon donkeys.

19. And she said to her servants: "Go before me. Behold, I will follow after your back." But she did not reveal it to her husband, Nabal.

20. And when she had climbed on a donkey, and was descending to the base of the mountain, David and his men were descending to meet her. And she met them.

21. And David said: "Truly, in vain have I preserved all that was his in the wilderness, so that nothing perished out of all that belonged to him. And he has repaid evil to me for good.

22. May God do these things, by the enemies of David, and may he add these other things, if I leave behind until morning, out of all that belongs to him, anything that urinates against a wall."

23. Then, when Abigail had seen David, she hurried and descended from the donkey. And she fell upon her face before David, and she reverenced on the ground.

24. And she fell at his feet, and she said: "May this iniquity be upon me, my lord. I beg you, let your handmaid speak to your ears, and listen to the words of your servant.

25. Let not my lord, the king, I beseech you, set his heart upon this iniquitous man, Nabal. For in accord with his name, he is senseless, and foolishness is with him. But I, your handmaid, did not see your servants, my lord, whom you had sent.

26. Now therefore, my lord, as your soul lives, and as the Lord lives, who has kept your hand to yourself, and has prevented you from coming to blood: now, let your enemies be like Nabal, and like all those who are seeking evil for my lord.

Read complete chapter 1 Samuel 25