Bible Chapter Summary
1 Samuel 25 Summary
David, Abigail, and the Death of Nabal
Samuel dies and is buried. David requests provisions from the wealthy but harsh Nabal for having protected his shepherds; Nabal refuses. David readies four hundred men for vengeance, but Abigail, Nabal's prudent wife, intercepts him with abundant gifts and wise words, turning him from bloodshed. Ten days later, the LORD strikes Nabal dead, and David marries the widowed Abigail and also takes Ahinoam as wife.
Key themes
Key verses
1 Samuel 25:3
“Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.”
1 Samuel 25:25-26
“Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.”
1 Samuel 25:37-38
“But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.”
1 Samuel 25:39
“And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.”
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