- published: 23 Dec 2010
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Abigail is a female given name. The name comes from the Hebrew name אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל Avigail, meaning "my father's joy" (alternatively "my father rejoices", or "my father is joy"). This name is becoming increasingly more popular in the U.S. in 2015.
Abigail was the wife of King David in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Samuel), and is described as an intelligent and beautiful woman.
The name Abigail can be shortened to "Abby", "Abbey", "Abbi", "Abbie", "Abbe", "Abi", "Abbye", "Abs", or "Aby", as well as "Gail" or "Gayle."
Abigail (Hebrew: אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל, Modern Avigáyil Tiberian ʾĂḇîḡáyil / ʾĂḇîḡāyil ; "my father's joy", spelled Abigal in 2 Samuel 17:25 in the American Standard Version but not in the King James Version) was the wife of Nabal; she became a wife of David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel 25). Abigail is David's second wife, after Saul's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to Palti, son of Laish when David went into hiding.
She became the mother of one of David's sons, who is listed in the Book of Chronicles under the name Daniel, in the Masoretic Text of the Books of Samuel as Chileab, and in the Septuagint text of 2 Samuel 3:3 as Δαλουια, Dalouia.
In the passage from 1 Samuel, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, and Abigail attempts to placate David in order to stop him 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 will make him a "lasting dynasty" (verse 28). Jon Levenson calls this an "undeniable adumbration" of Nathan's prophecy in 2 Samuel 7.Alice Bach notes that Abigail pronounces a "crucial prophecy," and the Talmud regards her as one of the Tanakh's seven female prophets. Levenson, however, suggests that she "senses the drift of history" from intelligence rather than from special revelation.