18
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.
19
She said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she didn`t tell her husband, Nabal.
20
It was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.
21
Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him: and he has returned me evil for good.
22
God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.
23
When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.
24
She fell at his feet, and said, On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and please let your handmaid speak in your ears. Hear the words of your handmaid.
25
Please don`t let my lord regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid didn`t see the young men of my lord, whom you did send.
26
Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, seeing Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
27
Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28
Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh; and evil shall not be found in you all your days.
29
Though men be risen up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.
30
It shall come to pass, when Yahweh shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you prince over Israel,
31
that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When Yahweh shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.
32
David said to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me:
33
and blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, that have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.
34
For in very deed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn`t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child.
35
So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, Go up in peace to your house; behold, I have listened to your voice, and have accepted your person.