d said. Then said David to his
men: Let every man take his sword and gird him withal, and David took
his sword and girt him. And David went and four hundred men followed
him, and he left two hundred behind him. One of the servants of Nabal
told to Abigail, Nabal's wife, how that David had sent messengers from
the desert unto his lord, and how wroth and wayward he was, and also he
said that those men were good enough to them when they were in desert,
ne never perished beast of yours as long as they were there. They were a
wall and a shield for us both day and night all the time that we kept
our flocks there, wherefore consider what is to be done. They purpose to
do harm to him and to his house, for he is the son of Belial in such
wise that no man may speak with him. Then Abigail hied her and took two
hundred loaves of bread, one hundred bottles of wine, five wethers
sodden, and five measures of pottage, and one hundred bonds of grapes
dried, and two hundred masses of caricares, and laid all this upon
asses, and said to her servants: Go ye tofore, and I shall follow
after. She told hereof nothing to her husband Nabal.

Then she took an ass and rode after, and when she came to the foot of
the hill, David and his men descended; to whom she ran, and David said:
I have for naught saved all the beasts of this Nabal in desert, and
there perished nothing of his that pertained to him, and he hath yielded
evil for good. By the living God I shall not leave as much as his alive
as one man. As soon as Abigail saw David she descended from her ass, and
fell down tofore David, upon her visage and worshipped him on the earth,
and fell down to his feet and said: In me, said she, my lord, be this
wickedness, I beseech thee that I thine handmaiden may speak to thine
ears, and that thou wilt hear the words of me thy servant. I pray and
require thee my lord, let not thy heart be set against this wicked man
Nabal, for according to his name he is a fool, and folly is with him. I
thine handmaid saw not thy children that thou sendedst. Now, therefore,
my lord, for the love of God and of thy soul, suffer not thy hand to
shed no blood, and I beseech God that thine enemies may be like Nabal
and they that would thee harm; and I beseech thee to receive this
blessing and present which I thine handmaid have brought to thee, my
lord, and give it to thy men that follow thee, my lord. Take away the
wickedness from me thy servant, and I beseech God to make t