8. Ask your own servants. They'll tell you. We've come to you now at a happy time of the year. Please show favor to my young men. Please give me and my men anything you can find for us.' "
9. When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal the message from David. Then they waited.
10. Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are running away from their masters these days.
11. Why should I give away my bread and water? Why should I give away the meat I've prepared for those who clip the wool off my sheep? Why should I give food to men who come from who knows where?"
12. So David's men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported to David every word Nabal had spoken.
13. David said to his men, "Put on your swords!" So they put their swords on. David put his on too. About 400 men went up with David. Two hundred men stayed behind with the supplies.
14. One of the servants warned Nabal's wife Abigail. He said, "David sent some messengers from the desert to give his greetings to our master. But Nabal shouted at them and made fun of them.
15. "David's men had been very good to us. They treated us well. The whole time we were near them out in the fields, nothing was stolen.
16. We were taking care of our sheep near them. During that time, they were like a wall around us night and day. They kept us safe.
17. "Now think it over. See what you can do. Horrible trouble will soon come to our master and his whole family. He's such an evil man that no one can even talk to him."
18. Abigail didn't waste any time. She got 200 loaves of bread and two bottles of wine. The bottles were made out of animal skins. She got five sheep that were ready to be cooked. She got a bushel of grain that had been cooked. She got 100 raisin cakes. And she got 200 cakes of pressed figs. She loaded all of it on the backs of donkeys.
19. Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead. I'll follow you." But she didn't tell her husband Nabal about it.
20. Abigail rode her donkey into a mountain valley. There she saw David and his men. They were coming down toward her.
21. David had just said, "Everything we've done hasn't been worth a thing! I watched over that fellow's property in the desert. I made sure none of it was stolen. But he has paid me back evil for good.
22. I won't leave even one of his men alive until morning. If I do, may God punish me greatly!"
23. When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey. She bowed down in front of David with her face toward the ground.
24. She fell at his feet. She said, "Please let me speak to you, sir. Listen to what I'm saying. Let me take the blame myself.
25. Don't pay any attention to that evil man Nabal. His name means Foolish Person. And that's exactly what he is. He's always doing foolish things. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see the men you sent.
26. "Sir, the Lord has kept you from killing Nabal and his men. He has kept you from using your own hands to get even. May what's about to happen to Nabal happen to all of your enemies. May it also happen to everyone who wants to harm you. And may it happen just as surely as the Lord and you are alive.