5. And Dawiḏ sent ten young men, and Dawiḏ said to the young men, “Go up to Karmel, and you shall come to Naḇal, and greet him in my name,
6. and say this, ‘Long life and peace to you! And peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!
7. ‘And now, I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us. We did not put them to shame, and not a speck of theirs was missing all the days they were in Karmel.
8. ‘Ask your young men, and let them inform you. So let my young men find favour in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son Dawiḏ.’ ”
9. And the young men of Dawiḏ came and spoke to Naḇal according to all these words in the name of Dawiḏ, and waited.
10. But Naḇal answered the servants of Dawiḏ and said, “Who is Dawiḏ, and who is the son of Yishai? The servants who are running away from their masters, have become many nowadays.
11. “And shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
12. And the young men of Dawiḏ turned around on their way and went back, and came and reported to him all these words.
13. And Dawiḏ said to his men, “Each one gird on his sword.” So they each girded on his sword, and Dawiḏ also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with Dawiḏ, and two hundred remained with the baggage.
14. And one of the young men informed Aḇig̅ayil, the wife of Naḇal, saying, “See, Dawiḏ have sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he scoffed at them.
15. “But the men were very good to us, and did not put us to shame, nor did we miss any item all the days we accompanied them, when we were in the fields.
16. “They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the days we were with them tending the sheep.
17. “And now, know and see what you should do, for evil has been resolved against our master, and against all his household, and he is too much of a son of Beliya‛al to speak to.”
18. Then Aḇig̅ayil made haste and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep made ready, five measures of roasted grain, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
19. And she said to her servants, “Pass over before me. See, I am coming after you.” But she did not inform her husband Naḇal.
20. And it came to be, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill, and there were Dawiḏ and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them.
21. And Dawiḏ had said, “Only in vain have I protected all that this one has in the wilderness, so that not a speck was missing of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good.