Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain,[fn] a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19 and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

21 Now David had just finished saying, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good. 22 May God punish David,[fn] and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant. 25 My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal,[fn] for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

26 Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

27 Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you. 28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.[fn]

30 When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel, 31 then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.”

32 Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day! 33 Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

36 When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

37 In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.