1. Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2. Now there was a man in Maon, whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich and owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. Now the shearing of his sheep was taking place in Carmel.
3. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. Now the woman was wise and beautiful, but the man was stubborn and mean, and he was as his heart.
4. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5. So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal; you will greet him in my name.
6. Then you must say to him, ‘Long life to you, and may it go well with you, with your house, and with all that is yours.
7. Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now while your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and nothing of theirs was missing, all the days they were in Carmel.
8. Ask your servants and they will tell you! Let the young men find favor in your eyes because we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have on hand for your servants and for your son David.”
9. So David’s young men came and they spoke all these words to Nabal in the name of David. Then they waited.
10. But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today, there are many servants breaking away from the presence of their masters.
11. Should I take my bread and my water and my meat which I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men whom I do not know where they are from?
12. So David’s young men turned on their way and returned and came and told him according to all these words.
13. Then David said to his men, “Each man strap on his sword!” So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.
14. But a young man of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he addressed them angrily,
15. even though the men were very good to us; we were not mistreated and did not miss anything all the days we went about with them while we were in the field.
16. They were a wall to us both night and day, all the days we were with them keeping the sheep.
17. And so then, know and consider what you should do, for evil has been decided against our master and against all his household, and he is such a wicked man, nobody can reason with him!”