rd this worthless fellow, even Nabal: for as his name is, so
is he; Nabal [the Fool] is his name, and folly is with him: but I
thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

"Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth,
seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness, and from
avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies,
and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now this present
which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the
young men that follow my lord.

"Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord
will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the
battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days.

{421}{422}

[Illustration]
JERUSALEM, LOOKING UP THROUGH THE VALLEY OF HINNOM.

It is said that continual fires were kept burning in the valley of
Hinnom for the destruction of the refuse from the city. It was here,
too, that the human sacrifices to the god Molech took place, where
the victims were made "to pass through the fire."
[End illustration]

{423}

And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet
the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord
thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as
from the hollow of a sling.

"And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord
according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and
shall have appointed thee prince over Israel; that this shall be no
grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my lord, either that thou
hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: and
when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine
handmaid."

And David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
which sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy wisdom, and
blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and
from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as the
Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, which hath withholden me from hurting
thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had
not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man
child."

So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he
said unto her, "Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened