New King James Version
Death of Samuel
1 Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of [a]Paran.
David and the Wife of Nabal
2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.
4 When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep,
5 David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.
6 And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!
7 Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel.
8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore [b]let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”
9 So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.
10 Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master.
11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my [c]meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?”
12 So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words.
13 Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.
14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he [d]reviled them.
15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields.
16 They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel[e] that one cannot speak to him.”
18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
19 And she said to her servants, “Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them.
21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good.
22 May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light.”
23 Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground.
24 So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant [f]speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant.
25 Please, let not my lord [g]regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: [h]Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging[i] yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal.
27 And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28 Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.
29 Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling.
30 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel,
31 that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”
32 Then David said to Abigail: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!
33 And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand.
34 For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!”
35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your person.”
36 Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was, holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until morning light.
37 So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.
38 Then it happened, after about ten days, that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.”
And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife.
40 When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, “David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife.”
41 Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, “Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”
42 So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, [j]attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and so both of them were his wives.
44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to [k]Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
Толковая Библия Лопухина
Навал и Авигея
1Цар 25:1. И умер Самуил; и собрались все Израильтяне, и плакали по нем, и погребли его в доме его, в Раме. Давид встал и сошел к пустыне Фаран.
«Пустыня» Фаран — северная часть Аравийской пустыни, между Палестиной и Египтом, Идумеей и Синайским полуостровом.
1Цар 25:2. Был некто в Маоне, а имение его на Кармиле, человек очень богатый; у него было три тысячи овец и тысяча коз; и был он при стрижке овец своих на Кармиле.
«Маон». См. прим. к 1Цар 22:5.
Упоминаемый здесь «Кармил» — город на юг от Хеврона.
1Цар 25:3. Имя человека того — Навал, а имя жены его — Авигея; эта женщина была Aвесьма умная и красивая лицем, а он — человек жестокий и злой нравом; он был из рода Халева.
Имя «Навал» означает «Безумный». «Без сомнения, это было не подлинное его имя, а прозвище, данное народом. Навал поражал окружающих дикостью и нелепостью своего характера, и народный юмор, скрыв его настоящее, быть может, совсем к нему не подходившее имя, утвердил за ним название самодура» (Я. Богородский, «Еврейские Цари», с. 112).
1Цар 25:5. И послал Давид десять отроков, и сказал Давид отрокам: взойдите на Кармил и пойдите к Навалу, и приветствуйте его от моего имени,
1Цар 25:6. и скажите так: «[здравствуй,] мир тебе, мир дому твоему, мир всему твоему;
1Цар 25:7. ныне я услышал, что у тебя стригут овец. Вот, пастухи твои были с нами, и мы не обижали их, и ничего у них не пропало во все время их пребывания на Кармиле;
1Цар 25:8. спроси слуг твоих, и они скажут тебе; итак да найдут отроки благоволение в глазах твоих, ибо в добрый день пришли мы; дай же рабам твоим и сыну твоему Давиду, что найдет рука твоя».
1Цар 25:9. И пошли люди Давидовы, и сказали Навалу от имени Давида все эти слова, и умолкли.
«Давид рассчитывал на благодарность Навала за то, что воины Давида, по роду жизни похожие на тех праздных наездников, от которых владельцы стад терпели немало, не только ничего не похитили из стад Навала, но и оберегали их от хищников; были оградой для его пастухов, как сознавались сами пастухи. Но Навал показал, что он недаром носил свое прозвище» (Я. Богородский, «Еврейские цари», с. 112).
1Цар 25:13. Тогда Давид сказал людям своим: опояшьтесь каждый мечом своим. И все опоясались мечами своими, опоясался и сам Давид своим мечом, и пошли за Давидом около четырехсот человек, а двести остались при обозе.
Давид оставлял безнаказанной несправедливость Саула, щадя в его лице Помазанника Божьего и видя в своей покорности ему долг верноподданного (1Цар 24:7:10−16); но не мог оставить без наказания дикую выходку Навала, так как смирение пред Навалом могло быть истолковано его сторонниками за простое бессилие защитить свою честь и права.
1Цар 25:21. И Давид сказал: да, напрасно я охранял в пустыне все имущество этого человека, и ничего не пропало из принадлежащего ему; он платит мне злом за добро;
1Цар 25:22. пусть то и то сделает Бог с врагами Давида, и еще больше сделает, если до рассвета утреннего из всего, что принадлежит Навалу, я оставлю мочащегося к стене.
См. прим к 1Цар 25:13.
1Цар 25:24. и пала к ногам его и сказала: на мне грех, господин мой; позволь рабе твоей говорить в уши твои и послушай слов рабы твоей.
1Цар 25:25. Пусть господин мой не обращает внимания на этого злого человека, на Навала; ибо каково имя его, таков и он. Навал — имя его, и безумие его с ним. А я, раба твоя, не видела слуг господина моего, которых ты присылал.
1Цар 25:26. И ныне, господин мой, жив Господь и жива душа твоя, Господь не попустит тебе идти на пролитие крови и удержит руку твою от мщения, и ныне да будут, как Навал, враги твои и злоумышляющие против господина моего.
1Цар 25:27. Вот эти дары, которые принесла раба твоя господину моему, чтобы дать их отрокам, служащим господину моему.
1Цар 25:28. Прости вину рабы твоей; Господь непременно устроит господину моему дом твердый, ибо войны Господа ведет господин мой, и зло не найдется в тебе во всю жизнь твою.
1Цар 25:29. Если восстанет человек преследовать тебя и искать души твоей, то душа господина моего будет завязана в узле жизни у Господа Бога твоего, а душу врагов твоих бросит Он как бы пращею.
1Цар 25:30. И когда сделает Господь господину моему все, что говорил о тебе доброго, и поставит тебя вождем над Израилем,
1Цар 25:31. то не будет это сердцу господина моего огорчением и беспокойством, что не пролил напрасно крови и сберег себя от мщения. И Господь облагодетельствует господина моего, и вспомнишь рабу твою [и окажешь милость ей].
Авигея извиняется пред Давидом в происшедшем недоразумении, объясняя его прирожденной, общеизвестной глупостью и самодурством Навала; умоляя Давида укротить свой гнев, предсказывая ему в будущем твердое и славное царствование, которое да не омрачится воспоминанием о несправедливо пролитой крови невменяемого Навала и его домашних.
1Цар 25:36. И пришла Авигея к Навалу, и вот, у него пир в доме его, как пир царский, и сердце Навала было весело; он же был очень пьян; и не сказала ему ни слова, ни большого, ни малого, до утра.
«И не сказала ему ни слова» о прошедшем, так как это было бы в данное время бесполезным, а быть может, и прямо вредным, — принимая во внимание необузданный нрав Навала.