HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 638
1 S A MU EL 2 6
26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives
and you yourself live, since the Lord has kept
you from murdering and taking vengeance into
your own hands, let all your enemies and those
who try to harm you be as cursed as Nabal is.
27 And here is a present that I, your servant, have
brought to you and your young men. 28 Please
forgive me if I have offended you in any way.
The Lord will surely reward you with a lasting
dynasty, for you are fighting the Lord’s battles.
And you have not done wrong throughout your
entire life.
29 “Even when you are chased by those who
seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of
the Lord your God, secure in his treasure pouch!
But the lives of your enemies will disappear like
stones shot from a sling! 30 When the Lord has
done all he promised and has made you leader
of Israel, 31 don’t let this be a blemish on your
record. Then your conscience won’t have to bear
the staggering burden of needless bloodshed
and vengeance. And when the Lord has done
these great things for you, please remember me,
your servant!”
32 David replied to Abigail, “Praise the Lord,
the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me
today! 33 Thank God for your good sense! Bless
you for keeping me from murder and from
carrying out vengeance with my own hands.
34 For I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, who
has kept me from hurting you, that if you had
not hurried out to meet me, not one of Nabal’s
men would still be alive tomorrow morning.”
35 Then David accepted her present and told her,
“Return home in peace. I have heard what you
said. We will not kill your husband.”
36 When Abigail arrived home, she found that
Nabal was throwing a big party and was celebrating like a king. He was very drunk, so she
didn’t tell him anything about her meeting with
David until dawn the next day. 37 In the morning
when Nabal was sober, his wife told him what
had happened. As a result he had a stroke,* and
he lay paralyzed on his bed like a stone. 38 About
ten days later, the Lord struck him, and he died.
David Marries Abigail
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he
said, “Praise the Lord, who has avenged the insult I received from Nabal and has kept me from
doing it myself. Nabal has received the punishment for his sin.” Then David sent messengers
to Abigail to ask her to become his wife.
40 When the messengers arrived at Carmel,
they told Abigail, “David has sent us to take you
back to marry him.”
41 She bowed low to the ground and responded, “I, your servant, would be happy to
marry David. I would even be willing to become a slave, washing the feet of his servants!”
42 Quickly getting ready, she took along five of
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her servant girls as attendants, mounted her
donkey, and went with David’s messengers.
And so she became his wife. 43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, making both of
them his wives. 44 Saul, meanwhile, had given
his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to a man
from Gallim named Palti son of Laish.
David Spares Saul Again
Now some men from Ziph came to Saul
at Gibeah to tell him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which overlooks
Jeshimon.”
2 So Saul took 3,000 of Israel’s elite troops
and went to hunt him down in the wilderness
of Ziph. 3 Saul camped along the road beside the
hill of Hakilah, near Jeshimon, where David was
hiding. When David learned that Saul had come
after him into the wilderness, 4 he sent out spies
to verify the report of Saul’s arrival.
5 David slipped over to Saul’s camp one night
to look around. Saul and Abner son of Ner, the
commander of his army, were sleeping inside a
ring formed by the slumbering warriors. 6 “Who
will volunteer to go in there with me?” David
asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of
Zeruiah, Joab’s brother.
“I’ll go with you,” Abishai replied. 7 So David
and Abishai went right into Saul’s camp and
found him asleep, with his spear stuck in the
ground beside his head. Abner and the soldiers
were lying asleep around him.
8 “God has surely handed your enemy over to
you this time!” Abishai whispered to David. “Let
me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the
spear; I won’t need to strike twice!”
9 “No!” David said. “Don’t kill him. For who
can remain innocent after attacking the Lord’s
anointed one? 10 Surely the Lord will strike Saul
down someday, or he will die of old age or in
battle. 11 The Lord forbid that I should kill the
one he has anointed! But take his spear and that
jug of water beside his head, and then let’s get
out of here!”
12 So David took the spear and jug of water
that were near Saul’s head. Then he and Abishai
got away without anyone seeing them or even
waking up, because the Lord had put Saul’s
men into a deep sleep.
13 David climbed the hill opposite the camp
until he was at a safe distance. 14 Then he
shouted down to the soldiers and to Abner son
of Ner, “Wake up, Abner!”
“Who is it?” Abner demanded.
15 “Well, Abner, you’re a great man, aren’t
you?” David taunted. “Where in all Israel is
there anyone as mighty? So why haven’t you
guarded your master the king when someone
came to kill him? 16 This isn’t good at all! I swear
by the Lord that you and your men deserve to
26
25:37 Hebrew his heart failed him.
