Lexham English Bible

1 Samuel 25:28-42 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

28. Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, because Yahweh will certainly make a lasting house for my lord, because my lord is fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil will not be found in you as long as you live.

29. Should a man arise to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be wrapped in the pouch of the living with Yahweh your God. But as for the life of your enemy, he will sling it from within the pocket of the sling!

30. And then when Yahweh has done for my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you as leader over Israel,

31. then this will not be an obstacle for you or a stumbling block of conscience for my lord either by the shedding of blood without cause or by my lord taking matters into his own hands. And when Yahweh does good to my lord, then remember your female servant.”

32. Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has sent you this day to meet me!

33. And blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you who have prevented me this day from bloodguilt and from delivering myself by my own hand.

34. But as Yahweh lives, the God of Israel who has prevented me from harming you, if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been one male left alive for Nabal by the light of morning!”

35. Then David took from her hand what she had brought for him, and he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice, and I have granted your request.”

36. Then Abigail went to Nabal, and look, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of the king. Nabal was enjoying himself, and he was very drunk, so she did not tell him a thing, nothing at all, until the light of morning.

37. And then in the morning when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words. Then his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.

38. And then, about ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal and he died.

39. When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, “Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife.

40. So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you to take you for his wife.”

41. She got up and bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

42. Then Abigail quickly got up and rode on the donkey, along with five of her maidservants who attended her, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.