1. Samuel died, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, and they buried him by his home in Ramah. David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
2. A man in Maon had a business in Carmel; he was a very rich man with 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3. The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
4. While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,
5. so David sent 10 young men instructing them, “Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him in my name.
6. Then say this: ‘Long life to you, and peace to you, to your family, and to all that is yours.
7. I hear that you are shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.
8. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son David.’ ”
9. David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, and they waited.
10. Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? Many slaves these days are running away from their masters.
11. Am I supposed to take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to these men? I don’t know where they are from.”