April 4

1 Samuel 25:23 — 27:13
 

23 When Abigail caught sight of David, she at once hastened and got down off the ass and fell upon her face before David and bowed to the earth. 24 She then fell at his feet and said: “Upon me myself, O my lord, be the error; and, please, let your slave girl speak in your ears, and listen to the words of your slave girl. 25 Please, do not let my lord set his heart upon this good-for-nothing man Nabal, for, as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and senselessness is with him. As for me your slave girl, I did not see my lord’s young men that you had sent. 26 And now, my lord, as Jehovah is living and as your soul is living, Jehovah has held you back from entering into bloodguilt and having your own hand come to your salvation. And now let your enemies and those seeking injury to my lord become like Nabal. 27 And now as regards this gift blessing that your maidservant has brought to my lord, it must be given to the young men that are walking about in the steps of my lord. 28 Pardon, please, the transgression of your slave girl, because Jehovah will without fail make for my lord a lasting house, because the wars of Jehovah are what my lord is fighting; and as for badness, it will not be found in you throughout your days. 29 When man rises up to pursue you and look for your soul, the soul of my lord will certainly prove to be wrapped up in the bag of life with Jehovah your God; but, as for the soul of your enemies, he will sling it forth as from inside the hollow of the sling. 30 And it must occur that, because Jehovah will do to my lord the good toward you according to all that he has spoken, he certainly will commission you as leader over Israel. 31 And let this not become to you a cause for staggering or a stumbling block to the heart of my lord, both by the shedding of blood without cause and by having [the hand of] my lord [itself] come to his salvation. And Jehovah will certainly do good to my lord, and you must remember your slave girl.”

32 At this David said to Abigail: “Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who has sent you this day to meet me! 33 And blessed be your sensibleness, and blessed be you who have restrained me this day from entering into bloodguilt and having my own hand come to my salvation. 34 And, on the other hand, as Jehovah the God of Israel is living, who has held me back from doing injury to you, if you had not hastened that you might come to meet me, there would certainly not have remained to Nabal until the morning light anyone urinating against a wall.” 35 With that David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and to her he said: “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have listened to your voice that I may have consideration for your person.”

36 Later Abigail came in to Nabal, and there he was having a feast in his house like the feast of the king; and Nabal’s heart was feeling good within him, and he was as drunk as could be; and she did not tell him a thing, small or great, until the morning light. 37 And it came about in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, that his wife went telling him these things. And his heart came to be dead inside him, and he himself became as a stone. 38 After that about ten days elapsed and then Jehovah struck Nabal, so that he died.

39 And David got to hear that Nabal had died, and so he said: “Blessed be Jehovah, who has conducted the legal case of my reproach [to free me] from Nabal’s hand and has kept his servant back from badness, and the badness of Nabal Jehovah has turned back upon his own head!” And David proceeded to send and propose to Abigail to take her as his wife. 40 So David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel and spoke to her, saying: “David himself has sent us to you to take you as his wife.” 41 Immediately she rose up and bowed with her face to the earth and said: “Here is your slave girl as a maidservant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 Then Abigail hastened and rose up and went riding on the ass with five maids of hers walking behind her; and she went accompanying the messengers of David and then became his wife.

43 David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel; and the women came to be, even both of them, his wives.

44 As for Saul, he had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.


26 In time the men of Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah, saying: “Is not David concealing himself on the hill of Hachilah, facing Jeshimon?” 2 And Saul proceeded to rise up and go down to the wilderness of Ziph, and with him three thousand men, the chosen ones of Israel, to look for David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul took up camping on the hill of Hachilah, which faces Jeshimon, by the road, while David was dwelling in the wilderness. And he got to see that Saul had come after him into the wilderness. 4 So David sent spies that he might know that Saul had for a fact come. 5 Later David rose up and went to the place where Saul had encamped, and David got to see the place where Saul had lain down, and also Abner the son of Ner the chief of his army; and Saul was lying in the camp enclosure with the people camping all around him. 6 Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai the son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab: “Who will go down with me to Saul into the camp?” To this Abishai said: “I myself shall go down with you.” 7 And David made his way with Abishai to the people by night; and, look! Saul was lying asleep in the camp enclosure with his spear stuck into the earth at his head, and Abner and the people were lying all around him.

8 Abishai now said to David: “God has today surrendered your enemy into your hand. And now let me, please, pin him to the earth with the spear just once, and I shall not do it to him twice.” 9 However, David said to Abishai: “Do not bring him to ruin, for who is it that has thrust his hand out against the anointed of Jehovah and has remained innocent?” 10 And David went on to say: “As Jehovah is living, Jehovah himself will deal him a blow; or his day will come and he will have to die, or down into battle he will go, and he will certainly be swept away. 11 It is unthinkable, on my part, from Jehovah’s standpoint, to thrust my hand out against the anointed of Jehovah! So now take, please, the spear that is at his head and the water jug, and let us get on our way.” 12 Accordingly David took the spear and the water jug from the place at Saul’s head, and then they got on their way; and there was no one seeing nor anyone taking note nor anyone waking up, for all of them were asleep, because it was a deep sleep from Jehovah that had fallen upon them. 13 Then David passed on to the other side and stood upon the top of the mountain at a distance, the space between them being vast.

14 And David began to call out to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying: “Will you not answer, Abner?” And Abner began to answer and say: “Who are you that have called out to the king?” 15 And David went on to say to Abner: “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why, then, did you not watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to bring the king your lord to ruin. 16 This thing that you have done is not good. As Jehovah is living, YOU men deserve to die, because YOU have not watched over YOUR lord, over the anointed of Jehovah. And now see where the king’s spear and the water jug are that were at his head.”

17 And Saul began to recognize the voice of David and to say: “Is this your voice, my son David?” To this David said: “It is my voice, my lord the king.” 18 And he added: “Why is this that my lord is chasing after his servant, for what have I done, and what badness is there in my hand? 19 And now let my lord the king, please, listen to the words of his servant: If it is Jehovah that has incited you against me, let him smell a grain offering. But if it is the sons of man, they are cursed before Jehovah, because they have driven me out today from feeling myself attached to the inheritance of Jehovah, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ 20 And now do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of Jehovah; for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a single flea, just as one chases a partridge upon the mountains.”

21 In turn Saul said: “I have sinned. Come back, my son David, for I shall no more do you injury, in view of the fact that my soul has been precious in your eyes this day. Look! I have acted foolishly and am very much mistaken.” 22 Then David answered and said: “Here is the spear of the king, and let one of the young men come on over and fetch it. 23 And Jehovah it is who will repay to each one his own righteousness and his own faithfulness, in that Jehovah today gave you into my hand, and I was unwilling to thrust my hand out against the anointed of Jehovah. 24 And, look! just as your soul was great this day in my eyes, so may my soul be great in the eyes of Jehovah, that he may deliver me out of all distress.” 25 At this Saul said to David: “Blessed may you be, my son David. Not only will you without fail work but you will also without fail come off the winner.” And David proceeded to go on his way; and as for Saul, he returned to his place.

27 However, David said in his heart: “Now I shall be swept away one day by Saul’s hand. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape without fail to the land of the Philistines; and Saul must despair of me in looking for me any longer in all the territory of Israel, and I shall certainly escape from his hand.” 2 So David rose up and he and six hundred men that were with him passed over to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. 3 And David continued to dwell with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each one with his household, David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail, Nabal’s wife, the Carmelitess. 4 In time report was made to Saul that David had run away to Gath, and so he did not go looking for him still another time.

5 Then David said to Achish: “If, now, I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities of the countryside, that I may dwell there; for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” 6 Accordingly Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. That is why Ziklag has come to belong to the kings of Judah down to this day.

7 And the number of the days that David dwelt in the countryside of the Philistines came to be a year and four months. 8 And David proceeded to go up with his men that they might raid the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for they were inhabiting the land that [extended] from Telam as far as Shur and down to the land of Egypt. 9 And David struck the land, but he preserved neither man nor woman alive; and he took flocks and herds and asses and camels and garments, after which he returned and came to Achish. 10 Then Achish said: “Where did YOU men make a raid today?” To this David said: “Upon the south of Judah and upon the south of the Jerahmeelites and upon the south of the Kenites.” 11 As for man and woman, David was not preserving any alive to bring them to Gath, saying: “That they may not tell on us, saying, ‘This is the way David did.’” (And this way has been his procedure all the days that he dwelt in the countryside of the Philistines.) 12 Consequently Achish believed David, saying to himself: “He has unquestionably become a stench among his people Israel; and he will have to become my servant to time indefinite.”