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Text -- 1 Samuel 25:1-24 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
The Death of Samuel
25:1 Samuel died , and all Israel assembled and mourned him. They buried him at his home in Ramah . Then David left and went down to the desert of Paran .
David Marries Abigail the Widow of Nabal
25:2 There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel . This man was very wealthy ; he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats . At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel .
25:3 The man’s name was Nabal , and his wife’s name was Abigail . She was both wise and beautiful , but the man was harsh and his deeds were evil . He was a Calebite.
25:4 When David heard in the desert that Nabal was shearing his sheep ,
25:5 he sent ten servants , saying to them , “Go up to Carmel to see Nabal and give him greetings in my name .
25:6 Then you will say to my brother , “Peace to you and your house ! Peace to all that is yours!
25:7 Now I hear that they are shearing sheep for you. When your shepherds were with us, we neither insulted them nor harmed them the whole time they were in Carmel .
25:8 Ask your own servants ; they can tell you! May my servants find favor in your sight , for we have come at the time of a holiday . Please provide us– your servants and your son David – with whatever you can spare .”
25:9 So David’s servants went and spoke all these words to Nabal in David’s name . Then they paused .
25:10 But Nabal responded to David’s servants , “Who is David , and who is this son of Jesse ? This is a time when many servants are breaking away from their masters !
25:11 Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give them to these men ? I don’t even know where they came from !”
25:12 So David’s servants went on their way . When they had returned , they came and told David all these things .
25:13 Then David instructed his men , “Each of you strap on your sword !” So each one strapped on his sword , and David also strapped on his sword . About four hundred men followed David up , while two hundred stayed behind with the equipment .
25:14 But one of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail , “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our lord , but he screamed at them.
25:15 These men were very good to us. They did not insult us, nor did we sustain any loss during the entire time we were together in the field .
25:16 Both night and day they were a protective wall for us the entire time we were with them, while we were tending our flocks .
25:17 Now be aware of this, and see what you can do . For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household . He is such a wicked person that no one tells him anything!”
25:18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread , two containers of wine , five prepared sheep , five seahs of roasted grain , a hundred bunches of raisins , and two hundred lumps of pressed figs . She loaded them on donkeys
25:19 and said to her servants , “Go on ahead of me. I will come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal .
25:20 Riding on her donkey , she went down under cover of the mountain . David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them.
25:21 Now David had been thinking , “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert . I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil .
25:22 God will severely punish David , if I leave alive until morning even one male from all those who belong to him!”
25:23 When Abigail saw David , she got down quickly from the donkey , threw herself down before David , and bowed to the ground .
25:24 Falling at his feet , she said , “My lord , I accept all the guilt ! But please let your female servant speak with my lord! Please listen to the words of your servant !
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Nabal |
David |
Abigail |
Carmel |
ARMY |
SAMUEL, BOOKS OF |
ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA |
RACAL |
Decision |
Sheep |
Wife |
Inhospitableness |
Fig |
Tact |
Prudence |
Servant |
ABIGAIL; ABIGAL |
Samuel |
SHEEP-SHEARING |
Food |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: 1Sa 25:1 The LXX reads “Maon” here instead of “Paran,” perhaps because the following account of Nabal is said to be in Maon (v. 2). Thi...
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NET Notes: 1Sa 25:3 Heb “good of insight”; KJV “of good understanding”; NAB, NIV, TEV “intelligent”; NRSV “clever.”
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NET Notes: 1Sa 25:6 The text is difficult here. The MT and most of the early versions support the reading לֶחָי (lekhai, “to life,R...
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NET Notes: 1Sa 25:12 Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
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NET Notes: 1Sa 25:18 The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.
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