Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors

the Lord's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.' ⁸So David checked his men with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

      ⁹David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying: 'My lord the king.' And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and prostrated himself. ¹⁰And David said to Saul: 'Wherefore hearkenest thou to men's words, saying: Behold, David seeketh thy hurt? ¹¹Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered thee to-day into my hand in the cave; and some bade me kill thee; but mine eye spared thee; and I said: I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed. ¹²Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against thee, though thou layest wait for my soul to take it. ¹³The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee; but my hand shall not be upon thee. ¹⁴As saith the proverb of the ancients: Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness; but my hand shall not be upon thee. ¹⁵After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. ¹⁶The Lord therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand.'

      ¹⁷And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said: 'Is this thy voice, my son David?' And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. ¹⁸And he said to David: 'Thou art more righteous than I; for thou hast rendered unto me good, whereas I have rendered unto thee evil. ¹⁹And thou hast declared this day how that thou hast dealt well with me; forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered me up into thy hand, thou didst not kill me. ²⁰For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that which thou hast done unto me this day. ²¹And now, behold, I know that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thy hand. ²²Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house.' ²³And David swore unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men got them up unto the stronghold.

      25And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

      ²And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful form; but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. ⁴And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵And David sent ten young men, and David said unto the young men: 'Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name; ⁶and thus ye shall say: All hail! and peace be both unto thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. ⁷And now I have heard that thou hast shearers; thy shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there aught missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. ⁸Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee; wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes; for we come on a good day; give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thy hand, unto thy servants, and to thy son David.'

      ⁹And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. ¹⁰And Nabal answered David's servants, and said: 'Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master; ¹¹shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men of whom I know not whence they are?' ¹²So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. ¹³And David said unto his men: 'Gird ye on every man his sword.' And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword; and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the baggage.

      ¹⁴But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying: 'Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he flew upon them. ¹⁵But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields; ¹⁶they were a wall unto us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house; for he is such a base fellow, that one cannot speak to him.'

¹⁸Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. ¹⁹And she said unto her young men: 'Go on before me; behold, I come after you.' But she told not her husband Nabal. ²⁰And it was so, as she rode on her ass, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down towards her; and she met them.—²¹Now David had said: 'Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him; and he hath returned me evil for good. ²²God do so unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one male.'—²³And when Abigail saw David, she made haste, and alighted from her ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed down to the ground. ²⁴And she fell at his feet, and said: 'Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity; and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. ²⁵Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this base fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: ⁹Nabal is his name, and churlishness is with him; but I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. ²⁶Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness, and from finding redress for thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. ²⁷And now this present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. ²⁸Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord; and evil is not found in thee all thy days. ²⁹And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that He hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel; ³¹that this shall be no stumblingblock unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood without cause, or that my lord hath found redress for himself. And when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid.'

³²And David said to ¹⁰Abigail: 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me; ³³and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from finding redress for myself with mine own hand. ³⁴For in very deed, as the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, who hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst made haste and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one male.' ³⁵So David received of her hand that which she had brought him; and he said unto her: 'Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.'

      ³⁶And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken; wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. ³⁷And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him