So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Sauĺs servants.

Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments.

So the women sang as they danced, and said: «Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.»

Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, «They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?»

So Saul eyed David from that day forward.

And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his hand, as at other times; but there was a spear in Sauĺs hand.

And Saul cast the spear, for he said, «I will pin David to the wall!» But David escaped his presence twice.

Now Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul.

Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with him.

Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him.

But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

Then Saul said to David, «Here is my older daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD́s battles.» For Saul thought, «Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.»

So David said to Saul, «Who am I, and what is my life or my fatheŕs family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?»

But it happened at the time when Merab, Sauĺs daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

Now Michal, Sauĺs daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

So Saul said, «I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.» Therefore Saul said to David a second time, «You shall be my son-in-law today.»

And Saul commanded his servants, «Communicate with David secretly, and say, «Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the kinǵs son-in-law.»́

So Sauĺs servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, «Does it seem to you a light thing to be a kinǵs son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?»

And the servants of Saul told him, saying, «In this manner David spoke.»

Then Saul said, «Thus you shall say to David: «The king does not desire any dowry but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the kinǵs enemies.»́ But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the kinǵs son-in-law. Now the days had not expired;

therefore David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the kinǵs son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.

Thus Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Sauĺs daughter, loved him;

and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David́s enemy continually.

Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.

Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.

When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep,

David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, «Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: «Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!

Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.»́

So when David́s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.

Then Nabal answered David́s servants, and said, «Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master.

Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?»

So David́s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words.

Then David said to his men, «Every man gird on his sword.» So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.

Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabaĺs wife, saying, «Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he reviled them.

But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields.

They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep.

Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.»

Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

And she said to her servants, «Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.» But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them.

Now David had said, «Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good.

May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light.»

Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground.

So she fell at his feet and said: «On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant.

Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, since the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal.

And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For the LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.

Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling.

And it shall come to pass, when the LORD has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel,

that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.»

Then David said to Abigail: «Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand.

For indeed, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!»

So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, «Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your person.»

Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was, holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabaĺs heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until morning light.

So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.

Then it happened, after about ten days, that the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.

So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, «Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For the LORD has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.» And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, «David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife.»

Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, «Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.»

So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and so both of them were his wives.

But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David́s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.