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Samuel's
Death |
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1 Samuel 25:1 |
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Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together
and mourned for him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and
went down to the wilderness of Paran. |
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Nabal
and Abigail |
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1 Samuel 25:2 |
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Now there was a man in Maon whose business
was in Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and
a thousand goats. And it came about while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel |
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1 Samuel 25:3 |
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(now the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's
name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but
the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite), |
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1 Samuel 25:4 |
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that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal
was shearing his sheep. |
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1 Samuel 25:5 |
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So David sent ten young men; and David said
to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him in my name; |
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1 Samuel 25:6 |
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and thus you shall say, 'Have a long life, peace
be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. |
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1 Samuel 25:7 |
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Now I have heard that you have shearers; now
your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, nor have they
missed anything all the days they were in Carmel. |
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1 Samuel 25:8 |
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Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore
let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please
give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.'" |
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1 Samuel 25:9 |
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When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal
according to all these words in David's name; then they waited. |
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1 Samuel 25:10 |
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But Nabal answered David's servants and said,
"Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who
are each breaking away from his master. |
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1 Samuel 25:11 |
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Shall I then take my bread and my water and
my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin
I do not know?" |
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1 Samuel 25:12 |
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So David's young men retraced their way and
went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. |
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1 Samuel 25:13 |
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David said to his men, "Each of you gird on
his sword." So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword,
and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with
the baggage. |
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1 Samuel 25:14 |
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But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's
wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our
master, and he scorned them. |
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1 Samuel 25:15 |
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Yet the men were very good to us, and we were
not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while
we were in the fields. |
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1 Samuel 25:16 |
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They were a wall to us both by night and by
day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. |
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1 Samuel 25:17 |
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Now therefore, know and consider what you should
do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and
he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him." |
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Abigail
Intercedes |
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1 Samuel 25:18 |
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Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves
of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures
of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs,
and loaded them on donkeys. |
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1 Samuel 25:19 |
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She said to her young men, "Go on before me;
behold, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. |
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1 Samuel 25:20 |
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It came about as she was riding on her donkey
and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his
men were coming down toward her; so she met them. |
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1 Samuel 25:21 |
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Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have guarded
all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that
belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good. |
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1 Samuel 25:22 |
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May God do so to the enemies of David, and more
also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him." |
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1 Samuel 25:23 |
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When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted
from her donkey, and fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground. |
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1 Samuel 25:24 |
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She fell at his feet and said, "On me alone,
my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen
to the words of your maidservant. |
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1 Samuel 25:25 |
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Please do not let my lord pay attention to
this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and
folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord
whom you sent. |
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1 Samuel 25:26 |
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"Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives,
and as your soul lives, since the LORD has restrained you from shedding blood,
and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those
who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. |
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1 Samuel 25:27 |
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Now let this gift which your maidservant has
brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord. |
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1 Samuel 25:28 |
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Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant;
for the LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord
is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil will not be found in you all your
days. |
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1 Samuel 25:29 |
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Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek
your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living
with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from
the hollow of a sling. |
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1 Samuel 25:30 |
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And when the LORD does for my lord according
to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over
Israel, |
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1 Samuel 25:31 |
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this will not cause grief or a troubled heart
to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged
himself. When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant." |
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1 Samuel 25:32 |
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Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the
LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, |
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1 Samuel 25:33 |
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and blessed be your discernment, and blessed
be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my
own hand. |
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1 Samuel 25:34 |
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Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives,
who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me,
surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much
as one male." |
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1 Samuel 25:35 |
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So David received from her hand what she had
brought him and said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened
to you and granted your request." |
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1 Samuel 25:36 |
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Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was
holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was
merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything at all
until the morning light. |
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1 Samuel 25:37 |
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But in the morning, when the wine had gone out
of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that
he became as a stone. |
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1 Samuel 25:38 |
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About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal
and he died. |
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David
Marries Abigail |
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1 Samuel 25:39 |
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When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said,
"Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of
Nabal and has kept back His servant from evil. The LORD has also returned the
evildoing of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent a proposal to Abigail, to
take her as his wife. |
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1 Samuel 25:40 |
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When the servants of David came to Abigail at
Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you as his
wife." |
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1 Samuel 25:41 |
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She arose and bowed with her face to the ground
and said, "Behold, your maidservant is a maid to wash the feet of my lord's servants." |
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1 Samuel 25:42 |
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Then Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey,
with her five maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David
and became his wife. |
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1 Samuel 25:43 |
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David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and
they both became his wives. |
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1 Samuel 25:44 |
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Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's
wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim. |
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