Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Nabal; she married the future

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

after Nabal's death (

1 Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...

). Abigail was David's third wife, after Ahinoam and

Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...

's daughter,

Michal Michal (; ; ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, then of all Israel, maki ...

, whom Saul later married to

Palti, son of Laish Palti (or Paltiel), son of Laish, who was from Gallim, was the second husband of Michal, Saul's daughter. Where other versions read "Palti" (1 Samuel 25:44) and "Paltiel" (2 Samuel 3:15), the KJV has Phalti and Phaltiel, respectively. Michal was ...

, when David went into hiding. Abigail became the mother of one of David's sons, who is listed in the

Book of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Heb ...

under the name '' Daniel'', in the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

of the Books of Samuel as ''Chileab,'' and in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

text of 2 Samuel 3:3 as Δαλουια, ''Dalouia''. Her name is spelled Abigal in in the

American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ...

Name

Derived from the Hebrew word ''ab,'' "father", and the Hebrew root ''g-y-l'', "to rejoice," the name Abigail has a variety of possible meanings including "my father's joy" and "source of joy".

Biblical narrative

In 1 Samuel 25, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, the son of Jesse (from the tribe of Judah), and Abigail attempts to placate David, in order to stop the future King from taking revenge. She gives him food, and speaks to him, urging him not to "have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed" (verse 31, NIV) and reminding him that

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

will make him a " lasting dynasty" (verse 28).

Jon Levenson Jon Douglas Levenson is an American Hebrew Bible scholar who is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School. Education *A.B. ''summa cum laude'' in English, Harvard College, 1971. *A.M. Department of Near Eastern ...

calls this an "undeniable

adumbration {{Short pages monitor

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abigail 10th-century BC people 10th-century BC women 11th-century BC people 11th-century BC women Christian royal saints Christian saints from the Old Testament Christian female saints from the Old Testament Christian saints in unknown century Eastern Orthodox royal saints Books of Samuel people Roman Catholic royal saints Wives of David Women in the Hebrew Bible Nonviolence advocates