David and his men came down towards her; and she met them.—21Now David had said: 'Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him; and he hath returned me evil for good. 22God do so unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one male.'—23And when Abigail saw David, she made haste, and alighted from her ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed down to the ground. 24And she fell at his feet, and said: 'Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity; and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. 25Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this base fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: [1]Nabal is his name, and churlishness is with him; but I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. 26Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness, and from finding redress for thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27And now this present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord; and evil is not found in thee all thy days. 29And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. 30And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that He hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel; 31that this shall be no stumblingblock unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood without cause, or that my lord hath found redress for himself. And when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid.'
32And David said to [2]Abigail: 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me; 33and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from finding redress for myself with mine own hand. 34For in very deed, as the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, who hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst made haste and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one male.' 35So David received of her hand that which she had brought him; and he said unto her: 'Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.'
36And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken; wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38And it came to pass about
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