1 Samuel 25:15

Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Abigail addresses David’s messengers in the wilderness immediately after her servant reports Nabal’s hostile refusal to provide provisions. She speaks to justify her urgent intervention and to correct their assessment of Nabal’s character.

The words — טֹבִים (tovim) = good, and פָקַדְנוּ (paqadnu) = we missed or were deprived. These terms ground her defense in tangible, daily protection rather than abstract loyalty.

The thread — The identical claim of unharassed shepherds and undiminished property appears in 1 Samuel 25:7, while David’s later complaint about protecting Nabal’s wilderness holdings repeats the same grievance in 1 Samuel 25:21.

Why it lands — The text states a factual record of David’s men’s conduct to expose the grounds for Nabal’s irrational hostility. It requires the reader to confront how unreciprocated protection frequently provokes the very threat it prevents.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְהָ֣אֲנָשִׁ֔יםve./Ha./'a.na.Shimand/ the/ men טֹבִ֥יםto.Vim[were] goodלָ֖נוּLa./nuto <the>/ usמְאֹ֑דme.'Odvery וְלֹ֤אve./Lo'and/ not הָכְלַ֙מְנוּ֙ha.khe.Lam.nuwe were humiliated וְלֹֽא־ve./lo'-and/ not פָקַ֣דְנוּfa.Kad.nuwe missed מְא֔וּמָהme.'U.mahanything כָּל־kol-all יְמֵי֙ye.Mei[the] days הִתְהַלַּ֣כְנוּhit.ha.Lakh.nu<of> [which] we went about אִתָּ֔ם'i.Ta/mwith/ them בִּֽהְיוֹתֵ֖נוּbi/h.yo.Te./nuwhen/ were/ we בַּשָּׂדֶֽה׃ba./sa.Dehin the/ field

King James Version

But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:

Cross-references

1 Samuel 25:7 Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.
1 Samuel 25:21 Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.
Philippians 2:15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world