21. David had just been saying: “Indeed, it was in vain that I guarded all this man’s possessions in the wilderness, so that nothing of his was missing. He has repaid good with evil.
22. May God do thus to David, and more, if by morning I leave a single male alive among all those who belong to him.”
23. As soon as Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey and, falling down, bowed low to the ground before David in homage.
24. As she fell at his feet she said: “My lord, let the blame be mine. Please let your maidservant speak to you; listen to the words of your maidservant.
25. My lord, do not pay any attention to that scoundrel Nabal, for he is just like his name. His name means fool, and he acts the fool. I, your maidservant, did not see the young men whom my lord sent.
26. Now, therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you live, the Lord has kept you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself by your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord become as Nabal!
27. Accept this gift, then, which your maidservant has brought for my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28. Please forgive the offense of your maidservant, for the Lord shall certainly establish a lasting house for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. Let no evil be found in you your whole life long.
29. If any adversary pursues you to seek your life, may the life of my lord be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God; may God hurl out the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling.
30. And when the Lord fulfills for my lord the promise of success he has made concerning you, and appoints you as ruler over Israel,