1 Samuel 25

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Samuel died and all Israel assembled to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Davidthen set off and went down to the desert of Maon.	1 And Samuel died, and all Israel was gathered together, and they mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramatha. And David rose and went down into the wilderness of Pharan.
2 Now, there was a man in Maon whose business was at Carmel; the man was very rich: he ownedthree thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was then at Carmel, having his sheep shorn.	2 Now there was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great: and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and it happened that he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 The man's name was Nabal and his wife's Abigail. She was a woman of intel igence and beauty, butthe man was miserly and churlish. He was a Calebite.	3 Now the name of the man was Nabal: and the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a prudent and very comely woman, but her husband was churlish, and very bad and ill natured: and he was of the house of Caleb.
4 When David heard in the desert that Nabal was at his sheepshearing,	4 And when David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep,
5 he sent ten men off, having said to them, 'Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him from me.	5 He sent ten young men, and said to them: Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and salute him in my name with peace.
6 And this is what you are to say to my brother, "Peace to you, peace to your family, peace to al that isyours!	6 And you shall say: Peace be to my brethren, and to thee, and peace to thy house, and peace to all that thou hast.
7 I hear that you now have the shearers; your shepherds were with us recently: we did not molest them,nor did they lose anything al the while they were at Carmel.	7 I heard that thy shepherds that were with us in the desert were shearing: we never molested them, neither was there ought missing to them of the flock at any time, all the while they were with us in Carmel.
8 Ask your young men and they wil tel you. I hope that you will give the men a welcome, coming as wedo on a festival. Whatever you have to hand please give to your servants and to your son David." '	8 Ask thy servants, and they will tell thee. Now therefore let thy servants find favour in thy eyes: for we are come in a good day, whatsoever thy hand shall find give to thy servants, and to thy son David.
9 David's men went and said al this to Nabal for David, and waited.	9 And when David's servants came, they spoke to Nabal all these words in David's name: and then held their peace.
10 Nabal retorted to the men in David's service, 'Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?	10 But Nabal answering the servants of David, said: Who is David? and what is the son of Isai? servants are multiplied now a days who flee from their masters.
11 There are many servants nowadays who run away from their masters. Am I to take my bread and mywine and the meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men who come from I know not where?'	11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and the flesh of my cattle, which I have killed for my shearers, and give to men whom I know not whence they are?
12 David's men turned on their heels and went back, and on their arrival told him exactly what had beensaid.	12 So the servants of David went back their way, and returning came and told him all the words that he said.
13 David then said to his men, 'Every man buckle on his sword!' And they buckled on their swords, andDavid buckled on his too; about four hundred fol owed David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.	13 Then David said to his young men: Let every man gird on his sword. And they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword: and there followed David about four hundred men: and two hundred remained with the baggage.
14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife. He said, 'David sent messengers from thedesert to greet our master, but he flared up at them.	14 But one of the servants told Abigail the wife of Nabal, saying: Behold David sent messengers out of the wilderness, to salute our master: and he rejected them.
15 Now, these men were very good to us; they did not molest us and we lost nothing al the time we hadanything to do with them while we were out in the country.	15 These men were very good to us, and gave us no trouble: neither did we ever lose any thing all the time that we conversed with them in the desert.
16 Night and day, they were like a rampart to us, al the time we were with them, minding the sheep.	16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 So now make up your mind what you should do, for the ruin of our master and his whole family is acertainty, and he is such a brute that no one can say a word to him.'	17 Wherefore consider, and think what thou hast to do: for evil is determined against thy husband, and against thy house, and he is a son of Belial, so that no man can speak to him.
18 Abigail hastily took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready prepared, five measuresof roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys.	18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dry figs, and laid them upon asses:
19 She said to her servants, 'Go on ahead, I shal fol ow you' -- but she did not tel her husband Nabal.	19 And she said to her servants: Go before me: behold I will follow after you: but she told not her husband Nabal.
20 As she was riding her donkey down behind a fold in the mountain, David and his men happened tobe coming down in her direction; and she met them.	20 And when she had gotten upon an ass, and was coming down to the foot of the mountain, David and his men came down over against her, and she met them.
21 Now, David had decided, 'It was a waste of time my guarding al this man's property in the desert sothat he lost nothing at all! He has repaid me bad for good.	21 And David said: Truly in vain have I kept all that belonged to this man in the wilderness, and nothing was lost of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good.
22 May God bring unnameable il s on David and worse ones, too, if by morning I leave a single manjackalive of all who belong to him!'	22 May God do so and so, and add more to the foes of David, if I leave of all that belong to him till the morning, any that pisseth against the wall.
23 As soon as Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from the donkey and, falling on her face infront of David, prostrated herself on the ground.	23 And when Abigail saw David she made haste and lighted off the ass, and fell before David, on her face, and adored upon the ground.
24 She fell at his feet and said, 'Let me take the blame, my lord. Let your servant speak in your ear;listen to what your servant has to say!	24 And she fell at his feet, and said: Upon me let this iniquity be, my lord: let thy handmaid speak, I beseech thee, in thy ears: and hear the words of thy servant.
25 My lord, please pay no attention to this brute Nabal for his nature is like his name; "Brute" is hisname and brutal he is. But I, your servant, did not see the men whom my lord sent.	25 Let not my lord the king, I pray, regard this naughty man Nabal: for according to his name, he is a fool, and folly is with him: but I thy handmaid did not see thy servants, my lord, whom thou sentest.
26 And now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, by Yahweh who kept you from the crimeof bloodshed and from taking vengeance with your own hand, may your enemies and al those ill-disposedtowards you become like Nabal.	26 Now therefore, my lord, the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, who hath withholden thee from coming to blood, and hath saved thy hand to thee: and now let thy enemies be as Nabal, and all they that seek evil to my lord.
27 As for the present which your servant has brought my lord, I should like this to be given to the men inyour service.	27 Wherefore receive this blessing, which thy handmaid hath brought to thee, my lord: and give it to the young men that follow thee, my lord.
28 Please forgive your servant for any offence I have given you, for Yahweh wil certainly assure you ofa lasting dynasty, since you are fighting Yahweh's battles and no fault has been found in you throughout yourlife.	28 Forgive the iniquity of thy handmaid: for the Lord will surely make for my lord a faithful house, because thou, my lord, fightest the battles of the Lord: let not evil therefore be found in thee all the days of thy life.
29 Should anyone set out to hunt you down and try to kil you, your life wil be kept close in the wal et oflife with Yahweh your God, while your enemies' lives he wil fling out of the pouch of the sling.	29 For if a man at any time shall rise, and persecute thee, and seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be kept, as in the bundle of the living, with the Lord thy God: but the souls of thy enemies shall be whirled, as with the violence and whirling of a sling.
30 Once Yahweh has done for you al the good things which he has said he will do for you, and madeyou ruler of Israel,	30 And when the Lord shall have done to thee, my lord, all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have made thee prince over Israel,
31 you must have no anxiety, my lord, no remorse, over having wantonly shed blood, over having takena revenge. When Yahweh has done wel by you, then remember your servant.'	31 This shall not be an occasion of grief to thee, and a scruple of heart to my lord, that thou hast shed innocent blood, or hast revenged thyself: and when the Lord shall have done well by my lord, thou shalt remember thy handmaid.
32 David said to Abigail, 'Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!	32 And David said to Abigail: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed be thy speech:
33 Blessed be your wisdom and blessed you yourself for today having restrained me from the crime ofbloodshed and from exacting revenge!	33 And blessed be thou, who hast kept me to day, from coming to blood, and revenging me with my own hand.
34 But as Yahweh, God of Israel, lives, who prevented me from harming you, had you not hurried out tomeet me, I swear Nabal would not have had a single manjack left alive by morning!'	34 Otherwise as the Lord liveth the God of Israel, who hath withholden me from doing thee any evil: if thou hadst not quickly come to meet me, there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
35 David then accepted what she had brought him and said, 'Go home in peace; yes, I have listened toyou and have pardoned you.'	35 And David received at her hand all that she had brought him, and said to her: Go in peace into thy house, behold I have heard thy voice, and have honoured thy face.
36 Abigail returned to Nabal. He was holding a feast, a princely feast, in his house; Nabal was in highspirits, and as he was very drunk she told him nothing at al til it was daylight.	36 And Abigail came to Nabal: and behold he had a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, and Nabal's heart was merry: for he was very drunk: and she told him nothing less or more until morning.
37 In the morning, when Nabal's wine had left him and his wife told him everything that had happened,his heart died within him and he became like a stone.	37 But early in the morning when Nabal had digested his wine, his wife told him these words, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38 About ten days later Yahweh struck Nabal, and he died.	38 And after ten days had passed, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, 'Blessed be Yahweh for having defended my causeover the insult which I received from Nabal, and for having restrained his servant from doing wrong! Yahweh hasmade Nabal's wickedness rebound on his own head!'	39 And when David had heard that Nabal was dead, he said: Blessed be the Lord, who hath judged the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil, and the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his head. The n David sent and treated with Abigail, that he might take her to himself for a wife.
40 David then sent Abigail an offer of marriage. When the men in David's service came to Abigail atCarmel, they said, 'David has sent us to take you to him, to be his wife.'	40 And David's servants came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying: David hath sent us to thee, to take thee to himself for a wife.
41 She stood up, then prostrated herself on the ground. 'Consider your servant a slave', she said, 'towash the feet of my lord's servants.'	41 And she arose and bowed herself down with her face to the earth, and said: Behold, let thy servant be a handmaid, to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42 Quickly Abigail stood up again and mounted a donkey; fol owed by five of her servant-girls, shefol owed David's messengers and became his wife.	42 And Abigail arose, and made haste, and got upon an ass, and five damsels went with her, her waiting maids, and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel and he kept them both as wives.	43 Moreover David took also Achinoam of Jezrahel: and they were both of them his wives.
44 Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti son of Laish, from Gal im.	44 But Saul gave Michol his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti, the son of Lais, who was of Gallium.