Then Absalom instructed his servants, “Watch Amnon. When he is drunk, I will tell you, ‘Kill Amnon.’ Right then, kill him! Don’t be afraid, because I have commanded you! Be strong and brave!”
But they are like straw; fire will quickly burn them up. They cannot save themselves from the power of the fire. They are not like coals that give warmth nor like a fire that you may sit beside.
They will be destroyed just as fire burns straw or dry grass. They will be destroyed like a plant whose roots rot and whose flower dies and blows away like dust. They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful and have hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.
They say, “Come, let’s drink some wine; let’s drink all the beer we want. And tomorrow we will do this again, or, maybe we will have an even better time.”
While they are stirred up, I will give a feast for them and make them drunk. They will shout and laugh. And they will sleep forever and never wake up!” says the Lord.
I will make Babylon’s rulers and wise men drunk, and her governors, officers, and soldiers, too. Then they will sleep forever and never wake up,” says the King, whose name is the Lord All-Powerful.
Even the best of them is like a thornbush; the most honest of them is worse than a prickly plant. The day that your watchmen warned you about has come. Now they will be confused.
“There is a day coming that will burn like a hot furnace, and all the proud and evil people will be like straw. On that day they will be completely burned up so that not a root or branch will be left,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was in the house, eating like a king. He was very drunk and in a good mood. So she told him nothing until the next morning.