Bible Verses About Prudence: Abigail

When Avigayil saw David, she hurried to dismount from her donkey, fell on her face in front of David and bowed down to the ground.

Having fallen at his feet, she said, "It's all my fault, my lord, all my fault! Please let your servant speak in your ears, and listen to what your servant says.

Please! My lord shouldn't pay any attention to this worthless fellow Naval, because he's just like his name -'Naval' means 'boor,' and his boorishness stays with him. But I, your servant, did not see my lord's men, whom you sent.

Therefore, my lord, as ADONAI lives, and as you live, inasmuch as ADONAI has kept you from the guilt of shedding blood and from taking vengeance into your own hands - therefore, may your enemies and anyone seeking your harm be [as worthless] as Naval.

Meanwhile, let this present which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the men in my lord's service.

And please forgive the offense your servant has caused; because ADONAI will certainly establish my lord's dynasty, for my lord fights ADONAI's battles, and nothing bad has been found in you all your life long.

Even if someone comes along searching for you and seeking your life, your life will be bound in the bundle of life with ADONAI your God. But the lives of your enemies he will fling away as if from the pouch of a slingshot.

Then, when ADONAI has done all the good to my lord that he has said about you and made you ruler over Isra'el,

what happens here will not have become an obstacle to you or a cause for remorse to my lord, neither that you shed blood without cause nor that my lord took vengeance into his own hands. Finally, when ADONAI has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant."

When David reached the top of the ascent, where it was customary to worship God, Hushai the Arki came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head.

David said to him, "If you go on with me, you will become a burden to me.

But if you go back to the city and tell Avshalom, 'King, I will be your servant; just as I was your father's servant in the past, so I will now be your servant'- then you will be able to frustrate Achitofel's advice for me.

When Hushai appeared before Avshalom, Avshalom said to him, "Achitofel has said such-and-such. Should we do what he says? If not, you tell us."

Hushai said to Avshalom, "The advice Achitofel has given this time is not good.

You know," continued Hushai, "that your father and his men are powerful men, and that they are as bitter as a bear deprived of her cubs in the wild. Moreover, your father is a military man, and he won't camp with the rest of the people -

right now he's hidden in a pit or somewhere. So what will happen is this: when they begin their attack, and whoever hears about it says, 'A slaughter is taking place among Avshalom's followers,'

then even the strongest among them, someone whose courage is that of a lion, will completely collapse! For all Isra'el knows that your father is a powerful man, and those with him are powerful men.

Rather, I advise that you summon all Isra'el to come to you, from Dan to Be'er-Sheva, numbering as many as sand grains on the seashore; and then you go to battle, yourself.

In this way we'll come upon him wherever he is, and we'll fall on him as the dew falls on the ground; of him and all the men with him we won't leave even one alive.

If he withdraws into a city, then all Isra'el will bring up ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the riverbed until not even a pebble is left."

Avshalom and all the men of Isra'el said, "The advice of Hushai the Arki is better than the advice of Achitofel"- for ADONAI had determined to frustrate the good advice of Achitofel, so that ADONAI could bring disaster on Avshalom.