1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered for his funeral. They buried him at his house in Ramah.Then David moved down to the wilderness of Maon.
2 There was a wealthy man from Maon who owned property near the town of Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and it was sheep-shearing time.
3 This man’s name was Nabal, and his wife, Abigail, was a sensible and beautiful woman. But Nabal, a descendant of Caleb, was crude and mean in all his dealings.
4 When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep,
5 he sent ten of his young men to Carmel with this message for Nabal:
6 “Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own!
7 I am told that it is sheep-shearing time. While your shepherds stayed among us near Carmel, we never harmed them, and nothing was ever stolen from them.