Wives and Concubines

(49) Saul’s sons were: Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were Merab, the older, and Michal, the younger. (50) The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz; and the name of his army commander was Abiner son of Saul’s uncle Ner.

(11) Saul sent messengers to David’s home to keep watch on him and to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal told him, “Unless you run for your life tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.” (12) Michal let David down from the window and he escaped and fled. (13) Michal then took the household idol, laid it on the bed, and covered it with a cloth; and at its head she put a net of goat’s hair. (14) Saul sent messengers to seize David; but she said, “He is sick.” (15) Saul, however, sent back the messengers to see David for themselves. “Bring him up to me in the bed,” he ordered, “that he may be put to death.” (16) When the messengers came, they found the household idol in the bed, with the net of goat’s hair at its head. (17) Saul said to Michal, “Why did you play that trick on me and let my enemy get away safely?” “Because,” Michal answered Saul, “he said to me: ‘Help me get away or I’ll kill you.’”

(1)...David went down to the wilderness of Paran. (2) There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel. The man was very wealthy; he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At the time, he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. (3) The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was a hard man and an evildoer.

(4) David was in the wilderness when he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. (5) David dispatched ten young men, and David instructed the young men, “Go up to Carmel. When you come to Nabal, greet him in my name. (6) Say as follows: ‘To life!^-b Greetings to you and to your household and to all that is yours! (7) I hear that you are now doing your shearing. As you know, your shepherds have been with us; we did not harm them, and nothing of theirs was missing all the time they were in Carmel. (8) Ask your young men and they will tell you. So receive these young men graciously, for we have come on a festive occasion. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can.’” (9) David’s young men went and delivered this message to Nabal in the name of David.

When they stopped speaking, (10) Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many slaves nowadays who run away from their masters. (11) Should I then take my bread and my water, and the meat that I slaughtered for my own shearers, and give them to men who come from I don’t know where?” (12) Thereupon David’s young men retraced their steps; and when they got back, they told him all this.

(13) And David said to his men, “Gird on your swords.” Each girded on his sword; David too girded on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage. (14) One of [Nabal’s] young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, that David had sent messengers from the wilderness to greet their master, and that he had spurned them. (15) “But the men had been very friendly to us; we were not harmed, nor did we miss anything all the time that we went about with them while we were in the open.

(16) They were a wall about us both by night and by day all the time that we were with them tending the flocks. (17) So consider carefully what you should do, for harm threatens our master and all his household; he is such a nasty fellow that no one can speak to him.” (18) Abigail quickly got together two hundred loaves of bread, two jars of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of parched corn, one hundred cakes of raisin, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs. She loaded them on asses, (19) and she told her young men, “Go on ahead of me, and I’ll follow you”; but she did not tell her husband Nabal.

(20) She was riding on the ass and going down a trail on the hill, when David and his men appeared, coming down toward her; and she met them.— (21) Now David had been saying, “It was all for nothing that I protected that fellow’s possessions in the wilderness, and that nothing he owned is missing. He has paid me back evil for good. (22) May God do thus and more to the enemies of^-d David if, by the light of morning, I leave a single male^-e of his.”—

(23) When Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from the ass and threw herself face down before David, bowing to the ground. (24) Prostrate at his feet, she pleaded, “Let the blame be mine, my lord, but let your handmaid speak to you; hear your maid’s plea. (25) Please, my lord, pay no attention to that wretched fellow Nabal. For he is just what his name says: His name means ‘boor’ and he is a boor.“Your handmaid did not see the young men whom my lord sent. (26) I swear, my lord, as the LORD lives and as you live—the LORD who has kept you from seeking redress by blood with your own hands—let your enemies and all who would harm my lord fare like Nabal! (27) Here is the present which your maidservant has brought to my lord; let it be given to the young men who are the followers of my lord.

(28) Please pardon your maid’s boldness. For the LORD will grant my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and no wrong is ever to be found in you. (29) And if anyone sets out to pursue you and seek your life, the life of my lord will be bound up in the bundle of life in the care of the LORD; but He will fling away the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling. (30) And when the LORD has accomplished for my lord all the good He has promised you, and has appointed you ruler of Israel, (31) do not let this be a cause of stumbling and of faltering courage to my lord that you have shed blood needlessly and that my lord sought redress with his own hands. And when the LORD has prospered my lord, remember your maid.”

(32) David said to Abigail, “Praised be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! (33) And blessed be your prudence, and blessed be you yourself for restraining me from seeking redress in blood by my own hands. (34) For as sure as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives—who has kept me from harming you—had you not come quickly to meet me, not a single male^-e of Nabal’s line would have been left by daybreak.” (35) David then accepted from her what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go up to your home safely. See, I have heeded your plea and respected your wish.”

(36) When Abigail came home to Nabal, he was having a feast in his house, a feast fit for a king; Nabal was in a merry mood and very drunk, so she did not tell him anything at all until daybreak. (37) The next morning, when Nabal had slept off the wine, his wife told him everything that had happened; and his courage died within him, and he became like a stone. (38) About ten days later the LORD struck Nabal and he died. (39) When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praised be the LORD who championed my cause against the insults of Nabal and held back His servant from wrongdoing; the LORD has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”

David sent messengers to propose marriage to^-f Abigail, to take her as his wife. (40) When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel and told her that David had sent them to her to make her his wife, (41) she immediately bowed low with her face to the ground and said, “Your handmaid is ready to be your maidservant, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” (42) Then Abigail rose quickly and mounted an ass, and with five of her maids in attendance she followed David’s messengers; and she became his wife.

(43) Now David had taken Ahinoam of Jezreel; so both of them became his wives. (44) Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish from Gallim.

(50) The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz

(1) The war between the House of Saul and the House of David was long-drawn-out; but David kept growing stronger, while the House of Saul grew weaker. (2) Sons were born to David in Hebron: His first-born was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; (3) his second was Chileab, by Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite; the third was Absalom son of Maacah, daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; (4) the fourth was Adonijah son of Haggith; the fifth was Shephatiah son of Abital; (5) and the sixth was Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

(6) During the war between the House of Saul and the House of David, Abner supported the House of Saul. (7) Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah; and [Ish-bosheth] said to Abner, “Why have you lain with my father’s concubine?” (8) Abner was very upset by what Ish-bosheth said, and he replied, “Am I a dog’s head from Judah?^-b Here I have been loyally serving the House of your father Saul and his kinsfolk and friends, and I have not betrayed you into the hands of David; yet this day you reproach me over a woman! (9) May God do thus and more to Abner if I do not do for David as the LORD swore to him— (10) to transfer the kingship from the House of Saul, and to establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beer-sheba.” (11) [Ish-bosheth] could say nothing more in reply to Abner, because he was afraid of him. (12) Abner immediately sent messengers to David, saying, “To whom shall the land belong?” and to say [further],^-b “Make a pact with me, and I will help you and bring all Israel over to your side.” (13) He replied, “Good; I will make a pact with you. But I make one demand upon you: Do not appear before me unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come before me.” (14) David also sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, to say, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bride-price of one hundred Philistine foreskins.” (15) So Ish-bosheth sent and had her taken away from [her] husband, Paltiel son of Laish. (16) Her husband walked with her as far as Bahurim, weeping as he followed her; then Abner ordered him to turn back, and he went back.

(12) It was reported to King David: “The LORD has blessed Obed-edom’s house and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God.” Thereupon David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David, amid rejoicing. (13) When the bearers of the Ark of the LORD had moved forward six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.^-j (14) David whirled with all his might before the LORD; David was girt with a linen ephod. (15) Thus David and all the House of Israel brought up the Ark of the LORD with shouts and with blasts of the horn.

(16) As the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him for it. (17) They brought in the Ark of the LORD and set it up in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the LORD. (18) When David finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts. (19) And he distributed among all the people—the entire multitude of Israel, man and woman alike—to each a loaf of bread, a cake made in a pan, and a raisin cake.^-f Then all the people left for their homes.

(20) David went home to greet his household. And Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “Didn’t the king of Israel do himself honor today—exposing himself today in the sight of the slavegirls of his subjects, as one of the riffraff might expose himself!” (21) David answered Michal, “It was before the LORD who chose me instead of your father and all his family and appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel! I will dance before the LORD (22) and dishonor myself even more, and be low in my own^-k esteem; but among the slavegirls that you speak of I will be honored.” (23) So to her dying day Michal daughter of Saul had no children.

(1) These are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the first-born Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite; (2) the third Absalom, son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; the fourth Adonijah, son of Haggith; (3) the fifth Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth Ithream, by his wife Eglah; (4) six were born to him in Hebron. He reigned there seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. (5) These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon, four by Bath-shua daughter of Ammiel; (6) then Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, (7) Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, (8) Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet—nine. (9) All were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines; and Tamar was their sister.

(13) After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to David. (14) These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon; (15) Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, and Japhia; (16) Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

(1) At the turn of the year, the season when kings go out [to battle], David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him, and they devastated Ammon and besieged Rabbah; David remained in Jerusalem. (2) Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal palace; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, (3) and the king sent someone to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, “She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam [and] wife of Uriah the Hittite.” (4) David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he lay with her—she had just purified herself after her period—and she went back home. (5) The woman conceived, and she sent word to David, “I am pregnant.”

(6) Thereupon David sent a message to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me”; and Joab sent Uriah to David. (7) When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab and the troops were faring and how the war was going. (8) Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” When Uriah left the royal palace, a present from the king followed him. (9) But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace, along with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

(10) When David was told that Uriah had not gone down to his house, he said to Uriah, “You just came from a journey; why didn’t you go down to your house?” (11) Uriah answered David, “The Ark and Israel and Judah are located at Succoth, and my master Joab and Your Majesty’s men are camped in the open; how can I go home and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As you live, by your very life,^-a I will not do this!”

(12) David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. The next day, (13) David summoned him, and he ate and drank with him until he got him drunk; but in the evening, [Uriah] went out to sleep in the same place, with his lord’s officers; he did not go down to his home.

(14) In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, which he sent with Uriah. (15) He wrote in the letter as follows: “Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he may be killed.” (16) So when Joab was besieging the city, he stationed Uriah at the point where he knew that there were able warriors. (17) The men of the city sallied out and attacked Joab, and some of David’s officers among the troops fell; Uriah the Hittite was among those who died.

(18) Joab sent a full report of the battle to David. (19) He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish reporting to the king all about the battle, (20) the king may get angry and say to you, ‘Why did you come so close to the city to attack it? Didn’t you know that they would shoot from the wall? (21) Who struck down Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez, from which he died? Why did you come so close to the wall?’ Then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite was among those killed.’” (22) The messenger set out; he came and told David all that Joab had sent him to say. (23) The messenger said to David, “First the men prevailed against us and sallied out against us into the open; then we drove them back up to the entrance to the gate. (24) But the archers shot at your men from the wall and some of Your Majesty’s men fell; your servant Uriah the Hittite also fell.”

(25) Whereupon David said to the messenger, “Give Joab this message: ‘Do not be distressed about the matter. The sword always takes its toll.^-d Press your attack on the city and destroy it!’ Encourage him!” (26) When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she lamented over her husband. (27) After the period of mourning was over, David sent and had her brought into his palace; she became his wife and she bore him a son.
But the LORD was displeased with what David had done

(1) At the turn of the year, the season when kings go out [to battle], David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him, and they devastated Ammon and besieged Rabbah; David remained in Jerusalem. (2) Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal palace; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, (3) and the king sent someone to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, “She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam [and] wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

(4) David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he lay with her—she had just purified herself after her period—and she went back home. (5) The woman conceived, and she sent word to David, “I am pregnant.” (6) Thereupon David sent a message to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me”; and Joab sent Uriah to David. (7) When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab and the troops were faring and how the war was going.

(8) Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” When Uriah left the royal palace, a present from the king followed him. (9) But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace, along with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his house. (10) When David was told that Uriah had not gone down to his house, he said to Uriah, “You just came from a journey; why didn’t you go down to your house?” (11) Uriah answered David, “The Ark and Israel and Judah are located at Succoth, and my master Joab and Your Majesty’s men are camped in the open; how can I go home and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As you live, by your very life,^-a I will not do this!” (12) David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. The next day, (13) David summoned him, and he ate and drank with him until he got him drunk; but in the evening, [Uriah] went out to sleep in the same place, with his lord’s officers; he did not go down to his home.

(14) In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, which he sent with Uriah. (15) He wrote in the letter as follows: “Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he may be killed.” (16) So when Joab was besieging the city, he stationed Uriah at the point where he knew that there were able warriors. (17) The men of the city sallied out and attacked Joab, and some of David’s officers among the troops fell; Uriah the Hittite was among those who died. (18) Joab sent a full report of the battle to David.

(23) The messenger said to David, “First the men prevailed against us and sallied out against us into the open; then we drove them back up to the entrance to the gate. (24) But the archers shot at your men from the wall and some of Your Majesty’s men fell; your servant Uriah the Hittite also fell.”

(25) Whereupon David said to the messenger, “Give Joab this message: ‘Do not be distressed about the matter. The sword always takes its toll.^-d Press your attack on the city and destroy it!’ Encourage him!” (26) When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she lamented over her husband. (27) After the period of mourning was over, David sent and had her brought into his palace; she became his wife and she bore him a son.
But the LORD was displeased with what David had done,

(1) and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich and one poor. (2) The rich man had very large flocks and herds, (3) but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He tended it and it grew up together with him and his children: it used to share his morsel of bread, drink from his cup, and nestle in his bosom; it was like a daughter to him.

(4) One day, a traveler came to the rich man, but he was loath to take anything from his own flocks or herds to prepare a meal for the guest who had come to him; so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” (5) David flew into a rage against the man, and said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! (6) He shall pay for the lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and showed no pity.”

(7) And Nathan said to David, “That man is you! Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘It was I who anointed you king over Israel and it was I who rescued you from the hand of Saul. (8) I gave you your master’s house and possession of your master’s wives; and I gave you the House of Israel and Judah; and if that were not enough, I would give you twice as much more. (9) Why then have you flouted the command of the LORD and done what displeases Him? You have put Uriah the Hittite to the sword; you took his wife and made her your wife and had him killed by the sword of the Ammonites. (10) Therefore the sword shall never depart from your House—because you spurned Me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite and making her your wife.’

(11) Thus said the LORD: ‘I will make a calamity rise against you from within your own house; I will take your wives and give them to another man before your very eyes and he shall sleep with your wives under this very sun. (12) You acted in secret, but I will make this happen in the sight of all Israel and in broad daylight.’” (13) David said to Nathan, “I stand guilty before the LORD!” And Nathan replied to David, “The LORD has remitted your sin; you shall not die. (14) However, since you have spurned the enemies of^-a the LORD by this deed, even the child about to be born to you shall die.”

(15) Nathan went home, and the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and it became critically ill. (16) David entreated God for the boy; David fasted, and he went in and spent the night lying on the ground. (17) The senior servants of his household tried to induce him to get up from the ground; but he refused, nor would he partake of food with them. (18) On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell David that the child was dead; for they said, “We spoke to him when the child was alive and he wouldn’t listen to us; how can we tell him that the child is dead? He might do something terrible.”

(19) When David saw his servants talking in whispers, David understood that the child was dead; David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “Yes,” they replied. (20) Thereupon David rose from the ground; he bathed and anointed himself, and he changed his clothes. He went into the House of the LORD and prostrated himself. Then he went home and asked for food, which they set before him, and he ate. (21) His courtiers asked him, “Why have you acted in this manner? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but now that the child is dead, you rise and take food!”

(22) He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought: ‘Who knows? The LORD may have pity on me, and the child may live.’ (23) But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will never come back to me.” (24) David consoled his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and lay with her. She bore a son and she named him Solomon. The LORD favored him, (25) and He sent a message through the prophet Nathan; and he was named Jedidiah at the instance of the LORD.