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¹ And Samuel died, and all the Israelites gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his owne house at Rama. And Dauid arose, & went downe to the wildernesse of Pharan.

² And ther was a man in Maon, whose possession was in Carmel, and the man was exceeding mightie, and had three thousande sheepe & a thousand goates: And he was shearing his sheepe in Carmel.³ The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wyfe was Abigail, and she was a woman of a singuler wysedome, and beautifull: But the man was churlishe, and of shrewde conditions, & was of the kinred of Caleb.⁴ And Dauid hearde in the wildernesse, that Nabal did sheare his sheepe.⁵ And Dauid sent out ten young men, and sayd vnto them: Get you vp to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greete him in my name.⁶ And ye shal say: So mayest thou lyue, peace be to thee, peace be to thyne house, and peace be vnto all that thou hast.⁷ Beholde I haue hearde say that thou hast shearers: Nowe, thy shepheardes were with vs, & we did them no spite, neither was there ought missing vnto them al the while they were in Carmel:⁸ Aske thy laddes, & they will shew thee: Wherfore let these young men finde fauour in thyne eyes (for we come in a good season) & geue I pray thee whatsoeuer commeth to thyne hande vnto thy seruauntes, and to thy sonne Dauid.⁹ And when Dauids young men came, they told Nabal all those wordes in the name of Dauid: and helde their peace.¹⁰ And Nabal aunswered Dauids seruauntes, and said: Who is Dauid? and who is ye sonne of Isai? There is plentie of seruauntes now a dayes that breake away euery man from his maister.¹¹ Shal I then take my bread, my water, and my fleshe that I haue killed for my shearers, and geue it vnto men whom I wot not whence they be?

¹² And so Dauids seruauntes turned their way, and went againe, and came and tolde him all those sayinges.¹³ And Dauid sayd vnto his men: Girde euery man his sword about him. And they girded euery man his sword about him, and Dauid was girded with his sword: And there folowed Dauid vpon a foure hundred men, and two hundred abode by the stuffe.¹⁴ But one of the laddes tolde Abigail Nabals wyfe, saying: Beholde, Dauid sent messengers vnto our maister out of the wildernesse to salute him: and he rayled on them.¹⁵ And yet the men were very good vnto vs, and dyd vs no displeasure, neither missed we any thyng as long as we were conuersaunt with them when we were in the fieldes.¹⁶ They were a wall vnto vs both by night and day, all the while we were with them keping sheepe.¹⁷ Now therefore take heede, & see what thou shalt do: for surelie euyll will come vpon our maister and al his housholde, for he is so wicked, that a man can not speake to him.

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste, and tooke two hundred loaues, and two bottels of wine, and fiue sheepe redie dressed, and fiue measures of parched corne, and an hundred frailes of reasynges, and two hundred cakes of fygges, & laded them on asses,¹⁹ And sayde vnto her young men: Go before me, beholde I come after you. But she tolde her husband Nabal nothing thereof.²⁰ And as she rode on her asse, she came priuylie downe the syde of the hill, and behold Dauid and his men came downe against her, and she met them.²¹ And Dauid saide: Surelie in vayne haue I kept all that this felow hath in the wildernes, so that nothing was missed of all that pertayned vnto him: and he hath quite me euill for good.²² So and more also do God vnto the enemies of Dauid, if I leaue of all that pertayne to him by the dawnyng of the day, any that pysseth against the wall.²³ And when Abigail sawe Dauid, she hasted and lyghted of her asse, and fell before Dauid on her face, and bowed her selfe to the grounde,²⁴ And fell at his feete, and sayde: Let this iniquitie be counted myne my lord, and let thyne handmaide I praye thee speake in thyne audience, & heare the wordes of thy handmayd.²⁵ Let not my lorde I pray thee regarde this wicked man Nabal: For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, & folly is with him: But I thyne handmayd sawe not the young men of my lorde whom thou sendedst.²⁶ Now therefore my lorde, as the Lord lyueth, and as thy soule liueth, euen the Lorde that hath withholden thee from comming to [shed] blood, and saued thee thyne hand: So nowe, I pray God that thyne enemies, & they that intende to do my lorde euyll, may be as Nabal.²⁷ And now this blessing which thyne handmayd hath brought vnto my lord, let it be geuen vnto the young men that folowe my lorde.²⁸ I praye thee forgeue the trespasse of thyne handmayd: for the Lorde will make my lord a sure house, because my lorde fighteth the battailes of the Lord, and there could none euill be found in thee in all thy dayes.²⁹ And yet a man hath rysen to persecute thee, and to seeke thy soule: but the soule of my Lorde shall be bound in the bundel of the lyuyng with the Lord thy God, and the soules of thy enemies shall God cast out, euen as out of the middle of a slyng.³⁰ And when the Lorde shall haue done to my lord al the good that he hath promysed thee, and shall haue made thee ruler ouer Israel:³¹ Then shall it be no griefe vnto thee, nor offence of mynde vnto my lorde, that thou hast not shed blood causelesse, and that my lord hath not auenged him selfe: But when the Lorde shall haue dealt well with my lord, then thinke on thyne handmayde.

³² And Dauid said to Abigail: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meete me.³³ Blessed is thy saying, and blessed art thou which hast kept me this day from comming to shed blood, & from auengeing my selfe with myne owne hande.³⁴ For in very deede, as the Lorde God of Israel lyueth, which hath kept me backe from hurting thee: except thou haddest hasted and met me, surely there hadde not ben left vnto Nabal by the dawnyng of the day, any that pysseth against the wall.³⁵ And so Dauid receaued of her hande that which she had brought him, and sayde vnto her: Go vp in peace to thyne house, beholde I haue heard thy voyce, and haue graunted thy petition.

³⁶ And Abigail came to Nabal, and beholde, he held a feast in his house lyke the feast of a king, and Nabals heart was mery within hym, for he was very drunken: Wherfore she tolde him nothyng neither lesse nor more, vntyll the morowe mornyng.³⁷ But in the morning when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wyfe tolde him these wordes, and his heart dyed within him, and he became as a stone.³⁸ And vpon a ten dayes after, the Lord smote Nabal, that he dyed.³⁹ And when Dauid heard that Nabal was dead, he sayd: Blessed be the Lord that hath iudged ye cause of my rebuke of the hand of Nabal, & hath kept his seruaunt from euill: For the Lord hath recompenced the wickednes of Nabal vpon his owne head. And Dauid sent to commune with Abigail, to take her to his wyfe.⁴⁰ And when the seruauntes of Dauid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake vnto her, saying: Dauid sent vs vnto thee, to take thee to his wyfe. ⁴¹ And she arose, & bowed her selfe on her face to the earth, and saide: Beholde, let thy handmayd be a seruaunt, to washe the feete of the seruauntes of my lorde.⁴² And Abigail hasted, and arose, & gate her vpon an Asse, with fiue damosels of hers that went at her feete, and she went after the messengers of Dauid, & became his wyfe.⁴³ Dauid also toke Ahinoam of Iezrael, and they were both his wyues.⁴⁴ But Saul had geuen Michol his daughter, Dauids wyfe, to Phalti the sonne of Lais, which was of Gallim.