18 Then Abigail made haste and rtook two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her servants, s“Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has trepaid me evil for good. 22 uMay God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I vleave wone male of all who belong to him by morning light.”

23 Now when Abigail saw David, she xdismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. 24 So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant 6speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. 25 Please, let not my lord 7regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: 8Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. 26 Now therefore, my lord, yas the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has zheld you back from coming to bloodshed and from aavenging 9yourself with your own hand, now then, blet your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now cthis present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For dthe Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord efights the battles of the Lord, fand evil is not found in you throughout your days. 29 Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be gbound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall hsling out, as from the pocket of a sling. 30 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you iruler over Israel, 31 that this will 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. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”

32 Then David said to Abigail: j“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kkept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has lkept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely mby morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!” 35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, n“Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and orespected your person.”