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The Death of the Prophet and the Folly of Nabal
And Shamuel died; and all the Yashar'alites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And Dawid arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
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1 Shamu'al 25
1 Shamu'al chapter 25 in the Qadmoni reader. Read the full chapter text with direct verse references and continue into the interactive reader.
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The Wealth of the Fool
And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
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Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Kalab.
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The Request for Provision
And Dawid heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
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And Dawid sent out ten young men, and Dawid said unto the young men, "Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:"
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"And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast."
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"And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel."
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"Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son Dawid."
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And when Dawid's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of Dawid, and ceased.
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The Rejection of the Anointed
And Nabal answered Dawid's servants, and said, "Who is Dawid? and who is the son of Yishai? there be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his adun."
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"Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?"
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The Wrath of Dawid
So Dawid's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
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And Dawid said unto his men, "Gird ye on every man his sword." And they girded on every man his sword; and Dawid also girded on his sword: and there went up after Dawid about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.
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The Warning to Abigail
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, Dawid sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our adun; and he railed on them."
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"But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:"
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"They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep."
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"Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our adun, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Beliyaal, that a man cannot speak to him."
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The Intercession of the Meal
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.
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And she said unto her servants, "Go on before me; behold, I come after you." But she told not her husband Nabal.
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And it was so, as she rode on the donkey, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, Dawid and his men came down against her; and she met them.
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The Carnal Oath of Vengeance
Now Dawid had said, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good."
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"So and more also do Alahiym unto the enemies of Dawid, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall."
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The Prophetic Shield of Abigail
And when Abigail saw Dawid, she hasted, and lighted off the donkey, and fell before Dawid on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
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And fell at his feet, and said, "Upon me, my adun, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid."
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"Let not my adun, I pray thee, regard this man of Beliyaal, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my adun, whom thou didst send."
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"Now therefore, my adun, as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my adun, be as Nabal."
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"And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my adun, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my adun."
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"I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 will certainly make my adun a sure house; because my adun fighteth the battles of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days."
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The Bundle of Life (Tzeror HaChayim)
"Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my adun shall be bound in the bundle of life with 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 thy Alahiym; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling."
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"And it shall come to pass, when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall have done to my adun according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Yashar'al;"
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"That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my adun, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my adun hath avenged himself: but when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall have dealt well with my adun, then remember thine handmaid."
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The Reversal of the Wrath
And Dawid said to Abigail, "Blessed be 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Alahiym of Yashar'al, which sent thee this day to meet me:"
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"And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand."
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"For in very deed, as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Alahiym of Yashar'al liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall."
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So Dawid received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, "Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person."
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The Feast of the Fool
And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
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The Judicial Execution of Nabal
But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
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And it came to pass about ten days after, that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 smote Nabal, that he died.
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The Blessing of the Supreme Judge
And when Dawid heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head." And Dawid sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
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And when the servants of Dawid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, "Dawid sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife."
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And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, "Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my adun."
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And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon a donkey, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of Dawid, and became his wife.
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The Shift in the Royal House
Dawid also took Ahinoam of Yizreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
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But Shaul had given Michal his daughter, Dawid's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.