1   And Samuel died, and al Israel was gathered together, and they mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramatha. And Dauid rising went downe into the desert of Pharan.

2   And there was a certaine man in the wildernes of Maon, and his possession in Carmel, and that man was exceding great: and he had three thousand sheepe, & a thousand goates: and it chanced that his flocke was shorne in Carmel.

3   And the name of that man was Nabal: and the name of his wife Abigail. and that woman was very wise and beutiful: moreouer her husband hard, and very il, and malicious: and he was of the kindred of Caleb.

4   When Dauid therefore heard in the desert, that Nabal sheared his flocke,

5   he sent tenne yong men, and sayd to them: Goe vp into Carmel, and you shal come to Nabal, and shal salute him in my name peaceably.

6   And you shal say: Peace be to my brethren, and to thee, and peace to thy house, and to al whatsoeuer thou hast be peace.

7   I haue heard, that thy shephards which were with vs in the desert did sheare we haue neuer molested them, neither hath ought beene wanting to them at any time of the flocke, al the time that they were with vs in Carmel.

8   Aske thy seruantes, and they wil tel thee. Now therefore let thy seruantes finde grace in thyne eies: for we are come in a good day, whatsoeuer thy hand shal finde, geue thy seruantes, and thy sonne Dauid.

9   And when Dauids seruantes were come, they spoke to Nabal al these wordes in Dauids name: and so held their peace.

10   But Nabal answering the seruantes of Dauid, said: Who is Dauid? and what is the sonne of Isai? There are seruantes multiplied now a daies which flee from their masters.

11   Shal I then take my breades, and my waters, and the flesh of my cattel, which I haue killed for my sheares, and geue to men whom I know nnt whence they are?

12   Therefore the seruantes of Dauid returned by their way, and returning came and told him al the

Dauid. wordes that he had said.

13   Then sayd Dauid to his seruantes: Euery man gird him with his sworde. And they were euery one girded with their swordes. And Dauid also was girded with his sworde: and there folowed Dauid about foure hundred men: moreouer two hundred remayned at the baggage.

14   But to Abigail the wife of Nabal one of their seruantes told, saying: Behold Dauid hath sent messengers from the desert, to blesse our maister. & he disdayned them:

15   these men were good ynough to vs, and not trublesome: neither did euer any thing perish al the time, that we haue couuerst with them in the desert:

16   they were in steed of a wal to vs both in the day and in the night, al the dayes that we fed the flockes with them.

17   Wherefore consider, & thinke what thou hast to doe, for ^note malice is accomplished against thy husband, and against thy house, and he is the sonne of Belial, so that no man can speake to him.

18   Abigail therefore made hast, and tooke two hundred loaues, and two bottels of wine, and fiue muttons ready drest, and fiue measures of polent, and a hundred branches of raysens, and two hundred mases of drie figges, and laid them vpon asses:

19   and said to her seruantes: Goe before me: loe, I wil folow you at your backe: but she told not her husband Nabal.

20   When she therefore had gotten vpon an asse, and came downe to the foote of the mountaine, Dauid and his men came downe meeting her, whom she also mette.

21   And Dauid said: In vaine veryly haue I preserued al thinges that were this mans in the desert, and there perished nothing of al that perteined to him: and he hath rendred me ^note euil for good.

22   These thinges doe God to the enemies of Dauid, and these thinges adde he, if I shal leaue of al thinges that perteine to him vntil morning, any thing pissing against the wal.

23   And when Abigail had seene Dauid, she made hast, and light from her asse, and fel downe before Dauid vpon her face, aud adored vpon the earth,

24   and fel at his feete, and sayd: In me my lord be this iniquitie: let thy handmayde speake I besech thee in thine eares: and heare the wordes of thy seruant.

25   Let not my lord the king I pray thee, set his hart vpon this naughtie man Nabal: because according to his name, he is a foole, and follie is with him: but I thy handmaide sawe not thy seruantes my lord, whom thou didst send.

26   Now therefore my lord, our Lord liueth, and thy soule liueth, who hath stayed thee that thou shouldest

Dauid. not come vnto blood, and hath saued thy hand to thee: and now be thine enemies as Nabal, and they that seeke euil to my lord.

27   Wherefore receiue this benediction, which thy handmaide hath brought to thee my lord: and geue to thy seruantes that folow thee my lord.

28   Take away the iniquitie of thy handmaide: for our Lord making wil make to my lord a faithful house, because thou my lord doest fight the battels of our Lord: let not malice therefore be found in thee al the dayes of thy life.

29   For if a man shal rise, persecuting thee, and seeking thy life, the life of my lord shal be kept, as in the ^note bundel of the liuing, with our Lord thy God: Moreouer the life of thine enemies shal be whurled, and in the violence, and whurle of a sling.

30   When our Lord therefore shal doe to thee, my lord, al good thinges, which he hath spoken concerning thee, and shal constitute thee prince ouer Israel,

31   this shal not be an occasion of sobbing to thee, and a scruple of hart to my lord, that thou hast shed innocent blood, or thy selfe hast reuenged thy selfe: and when our Lord hath bestowed these benefites vpon my lord, thou shalt remember thy handmaide.

32   And Dauid sayd to Abigail: Blessed be our Lord the God of Israel, who hath sent thee this day to meete me, and blessed be thy speach,

33   and blessed be thou, which hast stayed me to day, that I might not goe to blood, and reuenge me with myn owne hand.

34   Otherwise our Lord liueth the God of Israel, who hath staied me, that I should not doe thee any euil: vnles thou hadst quickely come to meete me, there had not remained to Nabal vntil morning light, any pissing against a wal.

35   And Dauid tooke of her hand al thinges which she had brought him, and said to her: Goe peaceable into thy house, behold I haue heard thy voice, and haue honoured thy face.

36   And Abigail came to Nabal: and behold he had a feast in his house, as it were the feast of a king, and Nabals hart was pleasant: for he was drunke excedingly: and she told him not a word little or great vntil morning.

37   But early when Nabal had digested his wine, his wife told him these wordes, and his hart was dead in wardly, and he became as a stone.

38   And when ten dayes had passed, our Lord stroke Nabal, and he died.

39   Which when Dauid had heard that Nabal was dead, he sayd: Blessed be our Lord, who hath iudged the cause of my reproch at the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his seruant from euil, and the

Saul. Dauid. malice of Nabal hath our Lord rendred vpon his head. Dauid therefore sent, and spake to Abigail, that he might take her to himselfe to wife.

40   And Dauids seruantes came to Abigail into Carmel, and spake to her, saing: Dauid hath sent vs vnto thee, to take thee to his wife.

41   Who arising adored flat toward the earth, and sayd: Loe let thy seruant be as an handmaide, to wash the feete of the seruantes of my lord.

42   And Abigail arose, and made hast, and gatte vpon an asse, and fiue wemen went with her waiting maides, and folowed the messengers of Dauid, and became his wife.

43   Yea and Achinoam also did Dauid take of Iezrahel: and both were his wiues.

44   But Saul gaue Michol his daughter Dauids wife to Phalti, the sonne of Lais, who was of Gallim.

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