Samuel & King Saul

And now, this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought vnto my lorde, let it be giuen vnto the yong men, that follow my lord.

I pray thee, forgiue the trespasse of thine handmaide: for the Lord will make my lorde a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battels of the Lord, and none euill hath bene found in thee in all thy life.

Yet a man hath risen vp to persecute thee, and to seeke thy soule, but the soule of my lorde shall be bounde in the bundel of life with the Lord thy God: and the soule of thine enemies shall God cast out, as out of the middle of a sling.

And when the Lord shall haue done to my lord al the good that he hath promised thee, and shall haue made thee ruler ouer Israel,

Then shall it be no griefe vnto thee, nor offence of minde vnto my lord, that he hath not shed blood causelesse, nor that my lorde hath not preserued him selfe: and when the Lord shall haue dealt well with my lorde, remember thine handmaide.

Then Dauid said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meete me.

And blessed be thy counsel, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from comming to shed blood, and that mine hand hath not saued me.

For in deede, as the Lord God of Israel liueth, who hath kept me backe from hurting thee, except thou haddest hasted and met mee, surely there had not bene left vnto Nabal by the dawning of the day, any that pisseth against the wall.

Then Dauid receiued of her hande that which she had brought him, and said to her, Goe vp in peace to thine house: beholde, I haue heard thy voyce, and haue graunted thy petition.

So Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he made a feast in his house, like the feast of a King, and Nabals heart was merie within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore shee tolde him nothing, neither lesse nor more, vntil the morning arose.

Then in the morning when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wife tolde him those wordes, and his heart died within him, and he was like a stone.

And about ten dayes after, the Lord smote Nabal, that he dyed.

Now when Dauid heard, that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord that hath iudged the cause of my rebuke of ye hand of Nabal, and hath kept his seruant from euil: for the Lord hath recompensed the wickednesse of Nabal vpon his owne head. Also Dauid sent to commune with Abigail to take her to his wife.

And whe the seruants of Dauid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake vnto her, saying, Dauid sent vs to thee, to take thee to his wife.

And she arose, and bowed her selfe on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmayde be a seruant to wash the feete of the seruants of my lord.

And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode vpon an asse, and her fiue maides folowed her, and she went after the messengers of Dauid, and was his wife.

Dauid also tooke Ahinoam of Izreel, and they were both his wiues.

Now Saul had giuen Michal his daughter Dauids wife to Phalti the sonne of Laish, which was of Gallim.

Againe the Ziphims came vnto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doeth not Dauid hide him selfe in the hill of Hachilah before Ieshimon?

Then Saul arose, and went downe to the wildernes of Ziph, hauing three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, for to seeke Dauid in the wildernesse of Ziph.

And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Ieshimon by the way side. Now Dauid abode in the wildernesse, and he sawe that Saul came after him into the wildernesse.

(For Dauid had sent out spies, and vnderstood, that Saul was come in very deede)

Then Dauid arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched, and when Dauid beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the sonne of Ner which was his chiefe captaine, (for Saul lay in the fort, and the people pitched round about him)

Then spake Dauid, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the sonne of Zeruiah, brother to Ioab, saying, Who will go downe with me to Saul to the hoste? Then Abishai said, I will goe downe with thee.

So Dauid and Abishai came downe to the people by night: and beholde, Saul lay sleeping within the fort, and his speare did sticke in the ground at his head: and Abner and the people lay round about him.