1 Samuel died, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, and they buried him by his home in Ramah. David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
2 A man in Maon had a business in Carmel; he was a very rich man with 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,
5 so David sent 10 young men instructing them, “Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him in my name.
6 Then say this: ‘Long life to you, and peace to you, to your family, and to all that is yours.
7 I hear that you are shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.