9. And when the servants of David had arrived, they spoke to Nabal all these words in the name of David. And then they were silent.
10. But Nabal, responding to the servants of David, said: "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Today, servants who are fleeing from their lords are increasing.
11. Therefore, shall I take my bread, and my water, and the meat of the cattle that I have slain for my shearers, and give it to men, when I do not know where they are from?"
12. And so the servants of David traveled back along their way. And returning, they went and reported to him all the words that he had said.
13. Then David said to his servants, "Let each one gird his sword." And each one girded his sword. And David also girded his sword. And about four hundred men followed David. But two hundred remained behind with the supplies.
14. Then it was reported to Abigail, the wife of Nabal, by one of his servants, saying: "Behold, David has sent messengers from the desert, so that they might speak kindly to our lord. But he turned them away.
15. These men were good enough to us, and were not troublesome. Neither did we ever lose anything, during the entire time that we conversed with them in the desert.
16. They were a wall to us, as much in the night as in the day, during all the days that we were with them, pasturing the sheep.
17. For this reason, consider and realize what you should do. For evil has been decided against your husband and against your house. And he is a son of Belial, so that no one is able to speak to him."
18. And so Abigail hurried, and she took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five cooked sheep, and five measures of cooked grain, and one hundred clusters of dried grapes, and two hundred masses of dried figs, and she set them upon donkeys.
19. And she said to her servants: "Go before me. Behold, I will follow after your back." But she did not reveal it to her husband, Nabal.
20. And when she had climbed on a donkey, and was descending to the base of the mountain, David and his men were descending to meet her. And she met them.
21. And David said: "Truly, in vain have I preserved all that was his in the wilderness, so that nothing perished out of all that belonged to him. And he has repaid evil to me for good.
22. May God do these things, by the enemies of David, and may he add these other things, if I leave behind until morning, out of all that belongs to him, anything that urinates against a wall."
23. Then, when Abigail had seen David, she hurried and descended from the donkey. And she fell upon her face before David, and she reverenced on the ground.
24. And she fell at his feet, and she said: "May this iniquity be upon me, my lord. I beg you, let your handmaid speak to your ears, and listen to the words of your servant.
25. Let not my lord, the king, I beseech you, set his heart upon this iniquitous man, Nabal. For in accord with his name, he is senseless, and foolishness is with him. But I, your handmaid, did not see your servants, my lord, whom you had sent.