Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Afterward, David moved down into the Desert of Maon.
There was a wealthy man in Maon, living at Carmel, who owned a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing at Carmel. His name was Nabal, and his wife was Abigail. She was intelligent and beautiful, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings.
While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So he sent ten young men to greet Nabal in David's name.
David's message to Nabal was: "Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and all the time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them."
When David's men arrived and delivered this message, they waited. But Nabal answered them with scorn: "Who is this David? Who is the son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?"
David's men returned and reported every word. David said to them, "Put on your swords!" So they armed themselves, about four hundred men went with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
One of Nabal's servants told Abigail, "David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us; they did not mistreat us, and all the time we were out in the fields near them, nothing was missing. Night and day, they were a wall around us while herding our sheep. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk sense to him."
Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. She told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll follow you," but she did not tell her husband.
As she rode her donkey into a mountain ravine, she met David and his men descending toward her. David had just said, "It's been useless—all my watching over this fellow's property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with me severely if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!"
Seeing David, Abigail quickly got off her donkey and bowed before him with her face to the ground. She said, "My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please hear your servant. May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—Fool—and folly goes with him. But I did not see the men my master sent.
Now that the LORD has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm you be like Nabal. And let this gift I bring be given to the men who follow you.
Please forgive my offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD'S battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the LORD will protect your life, but He will throw your enemies away as from a sling.
When the LORD has done everything He promised you and appointed you leader over Israel, my master will not bear the burden of needless bloodshed or of avenging himself. Remember your servant."
David replied, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment in keeping me from bloodshed and avenging myself. Otherwise, as surely as the LORD lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak."
David accepted from her hand what she had brought and said, "Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request."
When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was very drunk, so she told him nothing until morning. When he was sober, she told him all that had happened, and his heart failed, and he became like a stone.
About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept me from doing wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing upon his own head."
David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. His servants went to Carmel and told her, "David has sent us to take you to be his wife."
She bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of your servants."
Abigail quickly mounted her donkey, accompanied by her five maids, and went with David's messengers, becoming his wife.
David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.
Meanwhile, Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's first wife, to Paltiel son of Laish from Gallim.