1. Wife of Nabal, resident in Maon, who owned vast fields and flocks on Carmel, at the edge of the desert of Pharan, or better (according to the best text of the Septuagint) of Ma'ôn (southern Judea).
David, then wandering with his 600 men in the desert, sent some armed men to ask for provisions from the rich Nabal, who was celebrating the shearing of his flock. At the insolent refusal of the latter, David was about to take vengeance, when there appeared before him the “beautiful and sensible” A., preceded by servants bearing conspicuous gifts: 200 loaves, 2 skins of wine, 5 dressed sheep, 5 measures of grain, grapes and dried figs. The fine speech of A. (1 Sam 25:24-31) disarmed David. Indeed, ten days later, after Nabal’s death, David immediately took the devoted woman as his wife (1 Sam 25). A. followed her new husband in his adventurous life at Gath and at Ziklag; here she was captured by the Amalekites, then freed by David (ibid., 30:5, 18). In Hebron she bore a son to David named Chileab (2 Sam 3:3) or Daniel (1 Chr 3:1).
2. Sister of David and mother of Amasa, commander of the rebel Absalom’s forces. While in 1 Chr 2:13-17 she is called daughter of Jesse, in 2 Sam 17:25 she appears as daughter of Nahash. This Nahash is identified by some with Jesse, by others as the name of A.’s mother; but perhaps it is a gloss dependent on V. 27, where a son of Nahash is mentioned.