17. Now, consider what you should do because our master and his whole household are doomed. And he’s such a worthless man that it’s useless to talk to him.”
18. So Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, 2 full wineskins, 5 butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them on donkeys.
19. “Go on ahead,” she told her young men, “and I’ll follow you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal about it.
20. She was riding on her donkey down a hidden mountain path when she met David and his men coming toward her.
21. David had thought, “I guarded this man’s stuff in the desert for nothing! Not one of his possessions was missing. Yet, he has paid me back with evil when I was good to him.
22. May God punish me if I leave even one of his men alive in the morning.”
23. When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down from her donkey. She immediately bowed down in front of David with her face touching the ground.
24. After she bowed at his feet, she said, “Sir, let me be held responsible for this wrong. Please let me speak with you. Please listen to my words.
25. You shouldn’t take this worthless person Nabal seriously. He is like his name. His name is Nabal [Godless Fool], and he’s foolish. But I didn’t see the young men you sent.
26. “The Lord has kept you from spilling innocent blood and from getting a victory by your own efforts. Now, sir, I solemnly swear, as the Lord and you live, may your enemies and those who are trying to harm you end up like Nabal.
27. Here is a gift I am bringing to you. May it be given to the young men who are in your service.
28. Please forgive my offense. The Lord will certainly give you, sir, a lasting dynasty, because you are fighting the Lord’s battles. May evil never be found in you as long as you live.