Shmuel Alef 25

1. And Shmuel died; and kol Yisroel were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him at his bais at Ramah. And Dovid arose, and went down to the midbar Paran.

2. And there was an ish in Ma’on, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the ish was gadol me’od, and he had three thousand tzon, and a thousand izzim (goats); and he was shearing his tzon in Carmel.

3. Now the shem of the ish was Naval; and the shem of his isha Avigal; and she was an isha of tovat seichel, and beautiful; but the ish was kasheh (churlish, difficult) and rah (mean) in his doings; and he was a descendent of Kalev.

4. And Dovid heard in the midbar that Naval did shear his tzon.

5. And Dovid sent out ten ne’arim, and Dovid said unto the ne’arim, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Naval, and give him a shalom greeting in my shem (name);

6. And thus shall ye say to him, Koh lechai (good fortune to you), shalom to thee, shalom to thine bais, shalom unto all that thou hast.

7. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers; now thy ro’im (shepherds) which were with us, we hurt them not, and nothing was missing by them, all the while they were in Carmel.

8. Ask thy ne’arim, and they will show thee. Wherefore let the ne’arim find chen (favor, grace) in thine eyes; for we come on yom tov; give, now, whatsoever cometh to thine yad unto thy avadim, and to thy ben, Dovid.

9. And when the naarei Dovid came, they spoke to Naval according to all those devarim b’shem Dovid, and ceased.

10. And Naval answered the avadim of Dovid, and said, Who is Dovid? And who is Ben Yishai? There be many avadim nowadays who break away every ish from his adon.

11. Shall I then take my lechem, and my mayim, and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it unto anashim who come from I know not where?

12. So the ne’arim of Dovid turned to their derech, and went back, and came and told him all those devarim.

13. And Dovid said unto his anashim, Gird ye on every ish his cherev. And they girded on every ish his cherev; and Dovid also girded on his cherev; and there went up after Dovid about arba me’ot ish; and two hundred stayed by the kelim (supplies).

14. But one of the ne’arim told Avigal, eshet Naval, saying, Hinei, Dovid sent malachim out of the midbar to put a brocha on adoneinu; and he drove them off.

15. But the anashim were tovim unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the sadeh;

16. They were a chomah (wall) unto us both by lailah gam yomam (night and day), all the while we were with them shepherding hatzon.

17. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for ra’ah is determined against adoneinu, and against all his bais; for he is such a ben Beliyaal, that a man cannot speak to him.

18. Then Avigal made haste, and took two hundred lechem, and two skins of yayin, and five tzon ready cooked, and five measures of roasted grain, and a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred pressed figs, and laid them on chamorim (donkeys).

19. And she said unto her ne’arim, Go on ahead of me; hineni, I come after you. But she told not her ish Naval.

20. And it was so, as she rode on the chamor, that she came down by the covert on the har, hinei, Dovid and his anashim came down toward her; and she met them.

21. Now Dovid had said, Surely for sheker have I been shomer over all that this one hath in the midbar, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him; and he hath requited me ra’ah for tovah.

22. So and more also do Elohim unto the oyvei Dovid, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the boker any that urinate against the wall.

23. And when Avigal saw Dovid, she hasted, dismounted the chamor, and fell before Dovid on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

24. And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, adoni, upon me let this avon be; and let now thine handmaid speak in thine audience, and hear the devarim of thine handmaid.

25. Let now not adoni regard this ish of Beliyaal, even Naval; for as shmo is, so is he; Naval (fool) is shmo, and nevalah (folly) is with him; but I thine handmaid saw not the ne’arim of adoni, whom thou didst send.

26. Now therefore, adoni, as Hashem liveth, and as thy nefesh liveth, seeing Hashem hath held thee back from coming to shed dahm, and from avenging thyself with thine own yad, now let thine oyevim, and they that seek ra’ah for adoni, be as Naval.

27. And now this brocha which thine shifchah (maidservant) hath brought unto adoni, let it even be given unto the ne’arim that follow at the feet of adoni.

28. Forgive now the peysha of thine handmaid; for Hashem will certainly make adoni a bais ne’eman; because adoni fighteth the milchamot of Hashem, and ra’ah hath not been found in thee all thy yamim.

29. Yet adam is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy nefesh; but the nefesh of adoni shall be bound in the bundle of chayyim with Hashem Eloheicha; and the nefesh of thine oyevim, them shall He hurl away, as out of the hollow of a kela (slingshot).

30. And it shall come to pass, when Hashem shall have done to adoni according to all the tovah that He hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee Nagid over Yisroel,

31. There shall be no grief unto thee, nor michshol lev (downfall of conscience) unto adoni, either that thou hast committed shefach dahm chinom, or that adoni hath avenged himself; but when Hashem shall have dealt well with adoni, then remember thine handmaid.

32. And Dovid said to Avigal, Baruch Hashem Elohei Yisroel, Who sent thee today to meet me;

33. And baruch be thy good sense, and berukhah be thou, who hast kept me this yom from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own yad.

34. For in very deed, as Hashem Elohei Yisroel liveth, Who hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Naval by ohr haboker any that urinates against the wall.

35. So Dovid received of her yad that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in shalom to thine bais; see, I have paid heed to thy voice, and have granted thy request.

36. And Avigal came to Naval; and, hinei, he held a mishteh (feast) in his bais, like the mishteh of a melech; and lev Naval was tov within him, for he was shikkor ad me’od; wherefore she told him nothing, katan or gadol, until the ohr haboker.

37. But it came to pass in the boker, when the yayin was gone out of Naval, and his isha had told him these things, that his lev died within him, and he became like even (stone).

38. It came to pass about ten yamim later, Hashem struck Naval, that he died.

39. And when Dovid heard that Naval was dead, he said, Baruch Hashem, that hath upheld the cause of my cherpah (reproach) from the yad of Naval, and hath kept his eved from ra’ah; for Hashem hath returned the ra’ah (wickedness) of Naval upon his own rosh. And Dovid sent and communed with Avigal, to take her to him as isha.

40. And when the avadim of Dovid were come to Avigal to Carmel, they spoke unto her, saying, Dovid sent us unto thee, to take thee to him as isha.

41. And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the ground, and said, Hinei, let thine handmaid be for a shifchah to wash the feet of the avadim of adoni.

42. And Avigal hasted, and arose and rode upon a chamor, with five na’arot of hers that attended her; and she went after the malachim of Dovid, and became his isha.

43. Dovid also took Achinoam of Yizre’el; and they were also both of them his nashim (wives).

44. But Sha’ul had given Michal bitto (his daughter), Dovid’s isha, to Phalti Ben Layish, who was from Gallim.