¹ Then Samuel dyed, and all Israel assembled, and mourned for him, and buried him in his owne house at Ramah. And Dauid arose and went downe to the wildernes of Paran.

² Now in Maon was a man, who had his possessio in Carmel, and the man was exceeding mightie and had three thousand sheepe, and a thousand goates: and he was shering his sheepe in Carmel.

³ The name also of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail, and she was a woman of singular wisdome, and beautifull, but the man was churlish, and euil conditioned, and was of the familie of Caleb.

⁴ And Dauid heard in the wildernesse, that Nabal did shere his sheepe.

⁵ Therefore Dauid sent tenne yong men, and Dauid said vnto the yong men, Go vp to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and aske him in my name how he doeth.

⁶ And thus shall ye say for salutation, Both thou, and thine house, and all that thou hast, be in peace, wealth and prosperitie.

⁷ Behold, I haue heard, that thou hast sherers: now thy shepherds were with vs, and we did the no hurt, neyther did they misse any thing all the while they were in Carmel.

⁸ Aske thy seruants and they wil shew thee. Wherefore let these yong men finde fauour in thine eyes: (for we come in a good season) giue, I pray thee, whatsoeuer commeth to thine hand vnto thy seruants, and to thy sonne Dauid.

⁹ And when Dauids yong men came, they tolde Nabal all those wordes in the name of Dauid, and helde their peace.

¹⁰ Then Nabal answered Dauids seruantes, and sayd, Who is Dauid? and who is the sonne of Ishai? there be many seruantes nowe a dayes, that breake away euery man from his master.

¹¹ Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I haue killed for my sherers, and giue it vnto men, whom I know not whence they be?

¹² So Dauids seruants turned their way, and went againe, and came, and tolde him all those things.

¹³ And Dauid said vnto his men, Girde euery man his sword about him. And they girded euery man his sworde: Dauid also girded his sworde. And about foure hundreth men went vp after Dauid, and two hundreth abode by the cariage.

¹⁴ Nowe one of the seruantes tolde Abigail Nabals wife, saying, Beholde, Dauid sent messengers out of the wildernesse to salute our master, and he rayled on them.

¹⁵ Notwithstanding the men were very good vnto vs, and we had no displeasure, neither missed we any thing as long as we were conuersant with them, when we were in the fieldes.

¹⁶ They were as a wall vnto vs both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping sheepe.

¹⁷ Nowe therefore take heede, and see what thou shalt doe: for euill will surely come vpon our master, and vpon all his familie: for he is so wicked that a man can not speake to him.

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste, and tooke two hundreth cakes, and two bottels of wine, and fiue sheepe ready dressed, and fiue measures of parched corne, and an hundreth frailes of raisins, and two hundreth of figs, and laded them on asses.

¹⁹ Then she said vnto her seruants, Go ye before me: beholde, I will come after you: yet she tolde not her husband Nabal.

²⁰ And as shee rode on her asse, shee came downe by a secret place of the mountaine, and beholde, Dauid and his men came downe against her, and she met them.

²¹ And Dauid said, In deede I haue kept all in vaine that this fellow had in the wildernesse, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained vnto him: for he hath requited me euill for good.

²² So and more also doe God vnto the enemies of Dauid: for surely I will not leaue of all that he hath, by the dawning of the day, any that pisseth against the wall.

²³ And when Abigail sawe Dauid, she hasted and lighted off her asse, and fell before Dauid on her face, and bowed her selfe to the ground,

²⁴ And fel at his feete, and sayd, Oh, my lord, I haue committed the iniquitie, and I pray thee, let thine handmayde speake to thee, and heare thou the wordes of thine handmayde.

²⁵ Let not my lorde, I pray thee, regard this wicked man Nabal: for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and follie is with him: but I thine handmayde sawe not the yong men of my lord whom thou sentest.

²⁶ Now therefore my lord, as the Lord liueth, and as thy soule liueth (the Lord, I say, that hath withholden thee from comming to shedde blood, and that thine hand should not saue thee) so now thine enemies shall be as Nabal, and they that intend to doe my lord euill.

²⁷ And now, this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought vnto my lorde, let it be giuen vnto the yong men, that follow my lord.

²⁸ I pray thee, forgiue the trespasse of thine handmaide: for the Lord will make my lorde a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battels of the Lord, and none euill hath bene found in thee in all thy life.

²⁹ Yet a man hath risen vp to persecute thee, and to seeke thy soule, but the soule of my lorde shall be bounde in the bundel of life with the Lord thy God: and the soule of thine enemies shall God cast out, as out of the middle of a sling.

³⁰ And when the Lord shall haue done to my lord al the good that he hath promised thee, and shall haue made thee ruler ouer Israel,

³¹ Then shall it be no griefe vnto thee, nor offence of minde vnto my lord, that he hath not shed blood causelesse, nor that my lorde hath not preserued him selfe: and when the Lord shall haue dealt well with my lorde, remember thine handmaide.

³² Then Dauid said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meete me.

³³ And blessed be thy counsel, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from comming to shed blood, and that mine hand hath not saued me.

³⁴ For in deede, as the Lord God of Israel liueth, who hath kept me backe from hurting thee, except thou haddest hasted and met mee, surely there had not bene left vnto Nabal by the dawning of the day, any that pisseth against the wall.

³⁵ Then Dauid receiued of her hande that which she had brought him, and said to her, Goe vp in peace to thine house: beholde, I haue heard thy voyce, and haue graunted thy petition.

³⁶ So Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he made a feast in his house, like the feast of a King, and Nabals heart was merie within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore shee tolde him nothing, neither lesse nor more, vntil the morning arose.