Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
Parallel translations
- WEB Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.
- KJV And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
- NKJV And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand.
- NASB and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
- NLT Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David blesses Abigail's discretion for keeping him from bloodshed and self-vengeance. He gratefully credits her wisdom with restraining his sin.
Overview
David commends Abigail's good judgment and herself, thanking her for holding him back from blood-guilt and from avenging himself. He openly admits he had been on the brink of grave wrong. The verse honors godly wisdom as a means of grace and shows the humility of a leader who receives rebuke and praises the one who delivered it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Sam 25:26Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.
- Prov 28:23He who rebukes a man will later find more favor than one who flatters with his tongue.
- Prov 9:9Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.
- Ps 141:5Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.
- Prov 27:21A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but a man is tested by the praise accorded him.
- Prov 25:12Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.
- Prov 17:10A rebuke cuts into a man of discernment deeper than a hundred lashes cut into a fool.
- 1 Sam 26:9–10But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?”
- 1 Sam 24:19When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day.
- 1 Sam 25:31then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.”
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 25:33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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