Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Now there was a man in Maon, whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich and owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. Now the shearing of his sheep was taking place in Carmel. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. Now the woman was wise and beautiful, but the man was stubborn and mean, and he was as his heart. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal; you will greet him in my name. Then you must say to him, ‘Long life to you, and may it go well with you, with your house, and with all that is yours. Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now while your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and nothing of theirs was missing, all the days they were in Carmel. Ask your servants and they will tell you! Let the young men find favor in your eyes because we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have on hand for your servants and for your son David."

So David’s young men came and they spoke all these words to Nabal in the name of David. Then they waited. But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today, there are many servants breaking away from the presence of their masters. Should I take my bread and my water and my meat which I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men whom I do not know where they are from? So David’s young men turned on their way and returned and came and told him according to all these words. Then David said to his men, "Each man strap on his sword!" So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

But a young man of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, "Look, David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he addressed them angrily, even though the men were very good to us; we were not mistreated and did not miss anything all the days we went about with them while we were in the field. They were a wall to us both night and day, all the days we were with them keeping the sheep. And so then, know and consider what you should do, for evil has been decided against our master and against all his household, and he is such a wicked man, nobody can reason with him!"

Then Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put them on the donkeys. Then she said to her servants, "Go ahead before me; look, I am coming after you," but she did not tell her husband Nabal. And then, as she was riding on the donkey and was going down the ravine of the mountain, David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she met them. Now David had said, "Surely in vain I guarded all that this fellow had in the desert. And nothing was missed of all that was his, but he returned evil against me in place of good! May God severely punish the enemies of David and again do thus if I leave behind anything that is his until the morning, not even one male!" When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell on her face before David’s anger, and she bowed down to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, "On me, my lord, be the guilt! Please let your female servant speak to you personally! Hear the words of your female servant! Please do not let my lord set his heart against this worthless man, Nabal; for as his name, so is he. Nabal is his name, and stupidity is with him! But I, your female servant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. So then, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh restrained you from bloodguilt by taking matters into your own hand, so then, may your enemies be like Nabal, even those who seek to do my lord harm. So then, this gift which your female servant has brought to my lord, may it be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, because Yahweh will certainly make a lasting house for my lord, because my lord is fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil will not be found in you as long as you live. Should a man arise to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be wrapped in the pouch of the living with Yahweh your God. But as for the life of your enemy, he will sling it from within the pocket of the sling! And then when Yahweh has done for my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you as leader over Israel, then this will not be an obstacle for you or a stumbling block of conscience for my lord either by the shedding of blood without cause or by my lord taking matters into his own hands. And when Yahweh does good to my lord, then remember your female servant."

Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has sent you this day to meet me! And blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you who have prevented me this day from bloodguilt and from delivering myself by my own hand. But as Yahweh lives, the God of Israel who has prevented me from harming you, if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been one male left alive for Nabal by the light of morning!" Then David took from her hand what she had brought for him, and he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice, and I have granted your request."

Then Abigail went to Nabal, and look, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of the king. Nabal was enjoying himself, and he was very drunk, so she did not tell him a thing, nothing at all, until the light of morning. And then in the morning when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words. Then his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. And then, about ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal and he died.

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife. So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you for his wife." She got up and bowed down with her face to the ground and said, "Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord’s servants." Then Abigail quickly got up and rode on the donkey, along with five of her maidservants who attended her, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. (Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.)

The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers’ houses; for Tola, mighty warriors of their generations, their number in the days of David were twenty-two thousand six hundred. The sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah; all five of them were chiefs. And in addition to them, according to their generations, according to the house of their fathers, were troops of the army for war: thirty-six thousand. For they had many wives and sons. Now their kinsmen belonging to all the clans of Issachar were in all eighty-seven thousand mighty warriors, enrolled according to their genealogy.

The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, and Jediael, three. The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five, the heads of the house of the fathers, mighty warriors. And their enrollment by genealogy was twenty-two thousand thirty-four. The sons of Beker: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Beker. And their enrollment by genealogy according to their generations, as heads of the house of their fathers, mighty warriors, was twenty thousand two hundred. The sons of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Kenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. All these were the sons of Jediael according to the heads of the families, mighty warriors, seventeen thousand two hundred, able to go to war. And Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir; Hushim, the son of Aher.

The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum, the descendants of Bilhah.

The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she gave birth to Makir the father of Gilead. And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. And the name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second, Zelophehad. And Zelophehad had daughters. And Maacah the wife of Machir gave birth to a son, and she called his name Peresh. And the name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rekem. The sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Makir, son of Manasseh. And his sister, Hammolecheth, gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead. And the men of Gath who were born in the land killed them because they came down to take their livestock. And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And he called his name Beriah because disaster had been upon his house. And his daughter was Sheerah, and she built Lower and Upper Beth-Horon and Uzzen-Sheerah. And Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, Tahan his son, Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, Nun his son, Joshua his son. And their property and their dwellings were Bethel and its towns. And to the east, Naaran. And to the west, Gezer and its towns, and Shechem and its towns, up to Aija and its towns. And along the borders of the sons of Manasseh: Beth-Shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, and Dor and its towns. In these lived the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.

The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel, who was the father of Birzayith. And Heber fathered Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua. The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were the sons of Japhlet. The sons of Shemer: Ahi, Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. The sons of Helem his brother: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara. The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. All of these were the sons of Asher, heads of the house of the fathers, chosen mighty warriors, heads of the princes. And their number enrolled by genealogy, in the army for the war, was twenty-six thousand men.

Now after they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And as was his custom, Paul went in to them and on three Sabbath days he discussed with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ." And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, and also a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the prominent women.

But the Jews were filled with jealousy and, taking along some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace and forming a mob, threw the city into an uproar. And attacking Jason’s house, they were looking for them to bring them out to the popular assembly. And when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brothers before the city officials, shouting, "These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here also, whom Jason has entertained as guests! And these people are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus!" And they threw the crowd into confusion, and the city officials who heard these things. And after taking money as security from Jason and the rest, they released them.

Now the brothers sent away both Paul and Silas at once, during the night, to Berea. They went into the synagogue of the Jews when they arrived. Now these were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They accepted the message with all eagerness, examining the scriptures every day to see if these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and not a few of the prominent Greek women and men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the message of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there too, inciting and stirring up the crowds. So then the brothers sent Paul away at once to go to the sea, and both Silas and Timothy remained there. And those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as soon as possible, they went away.

Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he observed the city was full of idols. So he was discussing in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. And even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were saying, "What does this babbler want to say?" But others said, "He appears to be a proclaimer of foreign deities," because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we learn what is this new teaching being proclaimed by you? For you are bringing some astonishing things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who stayed there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling something or listening to something new.)

So Paul stood there in the middle of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see you are very religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing carefully your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an unknown God.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you— the God who made the world and all the things in it. This one, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives to everyone life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining their fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find him. And indeed he is not far away from each one of us, for in him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said: ‘For we also are his offspring.’ Therefore, because we are offspring of God, we ought not to think the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought. Therefore although God has overlooked the times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man who he has appointed, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead." Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed, but others said, "We will hear you about this again also." So Paul went out from the midst of them. But some people joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.