David, Nabal e Abigail
1Algum tempo depois, morreu Samuel e todo o Israel se juntou para o funeral, sepultando-o no local próprio da sua família em Ramá.
Entretanto, David desceu para o deserto de Parã. 2Havia um homem rico de Maom que tinha uma grande propriedade, para criação de gado, perto da aldeia do Carmelo. Possuía 3000 ovelhas e 1000 cabras. Naquela altura, encontrava-se na sua quinta tosquiando as ovelhas. 3O seu nome era Nabal e a sua mulher, que era bela e inteligente, chamava-se Abigail. No entanto, aquele indivíduo, descendente de Calebe, tinha um mau carácter e uma natureza ruim.
4Ao ouvir que Nabal estava a tosquiar as ovelhas, 5David mandou dez dos seus companheiros ao Carmelo com uma mensagem, dizendo-lhes que cumprimentassem a Nabal, em seu nome, 6e que lhe dissessem ainda: “Que seja aumentada a tua prosperidade, bem como a da tua família, e que tenhas muita paz, tu e todos os teus! 7Disseram-me que estás a tosquiar os animais. Hás de saber certamente que aos teus pastores, enquanto estiveram no nosso meio, nunca lhes aconteceu qualquer mal, e nada lhes faltou enquanto estiveram no Carmelo. 8Pergunta-lhes e verás se é ou não assim. Envio-te alguns dos meus homens para te pedir um donativo, pois sabemos que é uma altura de fartura para ti. Por favor, dá-nos alguma coisa do que tiveres à mão.” 9Os moços de David deram o recado e ficaram à espera.
10“Quem é esse David?”, perguntou. “Quem pensa, esse filho de Jessé, que ele é? Há muitos servos nestes tempos que correm, fugidos aos seus senhores. 11Porque é que haveria de pegar no meu pão, na minha água, na carne das reses que abati para os meus criados e dá-la a um bando de gente que aparece não se sabe donde?” 12Os mensageiros de David voltaram e contaram-lhe a resposta de Nabal.
13“Peguem nas espadas!”, foi a resposta de David, enquanto embainhava a sua. Quatrocentos partiram com ele e duzentos ficaram a guardar as bagagens.
14Entretanto, um dos criados de Nabal foi contar tudo a Abigail: “David mandou cá uns homens seus, desde o deserto, que falaram com muito boas maneiras ao nosso amo, mas este insultou-os e pô-los na rua. 15E é verdade que a gente de David nos tratou sempre bem e nada sofremos enquanto estivemos com eles; a bem dizer, 16de dia e de noite, eles eram como um muro de proteção para nós e para o gado; nada nos foi roubado durante todo o tempo que estivemos com eles. 17Vê bem o que há a fazer, porque as coisas vão correr mal para o nosso amo e família; ele tem tão mau feitio que ninguém pode falar com ele!”
18Abigail preparou à pressa duzentos bolos de farinha, dois odres de vinho, cinco ovelhas guisadas, cinco medidas de grão torrado, cem bolos de passas, duzentos bolos de figo e carregou tudo em jumentos, 19dizendo ao criados: “Vão já andando com isso que eu vou a seguir.” Mas não disse nada ao marido.
20Quando ela vinha a caminho montada no seu jumento, encontrou-se com David. 21David tinha vindo a pensar durante a marcha: “Fartámo-nos de fazer bem a este indivíduo, sem recompensa alguma. Protegemos-lhe os rebanhos no deserto, de tal forma que nada lhe foi roubado nem lhe faltou, e agora paga-nos desta maneira o bem que lhe fizemos. Tudo o que acabámos por receber foi insultos. 22Que Deus me castigue se até amanhã de manhã ficar vivo algum homem naquela casa!”
23Abigail, ao ver David, desmontou rapidamente e inclinou-se. 24“Recaia sobre mim a culpa disto tudo, meu senhor”, disse. “Peço-te que ouças aquilo que pretendo dizer-te. 25Nabal é um homem mau; por favor não ligues ao que diz. É um louco, tal como o seu nome indica. Eu não soube da vinda dos teus mensageiros. 26E agora, sendo que o Senhor te impediu de matares e de te vingares por tuas próprias mãos, a minha oração a Deus, a favor da tua vida, é que todos os teus inimigos sejam tão castigados como Nabal for.
27Aqui está um presente que vos trouxe, para ti e para os teus homens. 28Perdoa-me a ousadia em ter vindo até aqui. O Senhor certamente te recompensará com um reinado firme, assim como aos teus descendentes, pois combates as guerras do Senhor e nunca se viu que agisses erradamente em toda a tua vida. 29Mesmo quando és perseguido por aqueles que procuram tirar-te a vida, o Senhor, teu Deus, te protege como se estivesses na palma da sua mão! Mas as vidas dos teus inimigos desaparecerão como pedras atiradas numa funda. 30Quando o Senhor tiver cumprido todas as coisas que te prometeu e te tiver feito rei de Israel, 31certamente não quererás ter a consciência dum assassino que procurou fazer justiça por suas próprias mãos! Quando o Senhor tiver realizado todas essas grandes coisas a teu favor, peço-te que te lembres de mim, a tua serva!”
32David respondeu a Abigail desta forma: “Seja bendito o Senhor, Deus de Israel, que te mandou ao meu encontro neste dia! 33Graças a Deus pelo teu bom senso! Abençoada sejas tu por me teres impedido de matar um homem e de me ter vingado por minhas próprias mãos. 34Tão certo como vive o Senhor, o Deus de Israel, que me guardou de te fazer mal, que se não tivesses vindo ao meu encontro, nenhum dos homens de Nabal estaria com vida amanhã de manhã.”
35David aceitou os presentes e disse-lhe que regressasse a casa em paz, porque ele lhe daria o que ela pediu.
36Quando ela chegou a casa verificou que Nabal tinha dado uma grande festa, como se fosse um rei, e que estava a cair de bêbedo. Por isso, nada lhe disse do seu encontro com David até chegar a manhã seguinte. 37Nessa altura, estando Nabal já recuperado da embriaguês, quando lhe contou tudo o que acontecera, ele teve um ataque e caiu paralisado. 38Ficou assim durante dez dias, até que morreu. Foi o Senhor quem lhe tirou a vida.
39Ao ouvir da sua morte, David disse: “Louvado seja o Senhor! Ele deu a Nabal a recompensa que merecia e preservou-me de ser eu a fazê-lo. Recebeu assim a paga do seu pecado.” David enviou então mensageiros a Abigail, pedindo-lhe que se tornasse sua mulher.
40Quando chegaram ao Carmelo e lhe apresentaram o pedido, 41Abigail inclinou-se até ao chão e disse: “Eu sou apenas uma serva, disposta a lavar os pés dos seus criados.” 42Então aprontou-se para partir. Levou consigo cinco das suas moças, montou no jumento e foi com os homens de David. Assim se tornou mulher de David.
43David casou também com Ainoã de Jezreel. 44O rei Saul tinha entretanto obrigado a primeira mulher de David, a sua filha Mical, a casar com um indivíduo de Galim chamado Palti, filho de Laís.
David, Nabal and Abigail
1Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.25:1 Hebrew and some Septuagint manuscripts; other Septuagint manuscripts Maon
2A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.
4While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
7“ ‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’ ”
9When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.
10Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
12David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
14One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
18Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs25:18 That is, probably about 60 pounds or about 27 kilograms of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22May God deal with David,25:22 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew with David’s enemies be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. 26And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. 27And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.
28“Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. 29Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, 31my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”
32David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”
35Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”
36When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. 37Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone. 38About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”
41She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife. 43David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. 44But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel25:44 Hebrew Palti, a variant of Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
