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1 Samuel 25:40

in 1 Samuel 25

When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David hath sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.

KJV

And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 25

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
There is no note of the exact interval that elapsed between Nabal’s death and David’s hearing of it, or, again, between David’s hearing of it and his message to Abigail; nor is there any reason to suppose that the marriage took place with unbecoming haste. The widow of such a husband as Nabal had been could not, however, be expected to revere his memory. After the usual mourning of seven days, she would probably feel herself free to act as custom allowed. (See 2Sa 11:26.)

This site's exposition

to take thee to him to wife

on 1 Samuel 25:40-42

Abigail's answer to David's proposal is the same posture she took before him in the field, bowing to the earth and calling herself a servant fit only to wash the feet of David's men. She rises at once, rides to him with five of her own maidens, and becomes his wife, a wealthy widow's whole household folded overnight into an outlaw's camp in the wilderness. Albert Barnes notes the text gives no interval for mourning beyond what custom required, so nothing in the narrative suggests unbecoming haste on either side.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Letter 34 · Written before 397.

proposed

David had two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, and Abigail, whom he took later. The first was somewhat severe, the other full of mercy and graciousness, a kindly and generous soul who saw the Father with face unveiled, gazing on his glory. She received that heavenly dew of the grace of the Father, as her name is interpreted.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The loss is the more grievous at this juncture when Saul has grown so outrageous and David is driven from his country; never more need of Samuel than now, yet now he is removed. We will hope that the Israelites lamented Samuel's death the more bitterly because they remembered against themselves their own sin and folly in rejecting him and desiring a king.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head--If this was an expression of pleasure, and David's vindictive feelings were gratified by the intelligence of Nabal's death, it was an instance of human infirmity which we may lament; but perhaps he referred to the unmerited reproach (1Sa 25:10, 11), and the contempt of God implied in it.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּבֹ֜אוּand they went

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • עַבְדֵ֥י[the] servants of

    ʾavdeiH5650 →799 times

  • דָוִ֛דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אֲבִיגַ֖יִלAbigail

    ʾavigayilH26 →17 times

  • הַכַּרְמֶ֑לָה<the> Carmel towards

    hakarmelahH3760 →22 times

  • וַיְדַבְּר֤וּand they spoke

    vaydaberuH1696 →1141 times

  • אֵלֶ֙יהָ֙to her

    ʾeleihaH413 →5510 times

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • דָּוִד֙David

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • שְׁלָחָ֣נוּhe has sent us

    shelachanuH7971 →845 times

  • אֵלַ֔יִךְto you

    ʾelayikhH413 →5510 times

  • לְקַחְתֵּ֥ךְto take you

    lekachtekhH3947 →966 times

  • ל֖וֹfor <the> himself

    lo

  • לְאִשָּֽׁה׃to a wife

    leishahH802 →781 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

3 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 24:51

    Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.”

    it leads to

    • Genesis 20:15

      And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you please.”

    • Genesis 24:15

      Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.

    • 2 Samuel 16:10

      But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About 1 Samuel

David Slays Goliath, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Slays Goliath, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 25 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Ambrose of Milan, Letter 34; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 25 →