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.
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.
- BSB Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my 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 therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
- Prov 28:23He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.
- Prov 9:9Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
- Ps 141:5Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.
- Prov 27:21As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
- Prov 25:12As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
- Prov 17:10A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
- 1 Sam 26:9–10And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?
- 1 Sam 24:19For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.
- 1 Sam 25:31That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.