Bible Verses About Tact

But the men of Efrayim complained to Gid'on, "Why didn't you call on us when you went to fight Midyan? Why did you treat us this way?" They were sharp in their criticism.

He answered by saying to them, "How can what I have done be compared with what you have done? Aren't the grapes Efrayim leaves on the vines better than the ones Avi'ezer harvests?

God handed over to you Midyan's chiefs, 'Orev and Ze'ev. What could I do that matches what you did?" By saying that, he appeased their anger at him.

True, there were some scoundrels who said, "How can this man save us?"They showed him no respect and brought him no gift, but he held his peace.

he seized a pair of oxen and cut them in pieces; then he sent them throughout the territory of Isra'el with messengers saying, "Anyone who doesn't come and follow Sha'ul and Sh'mu'el, this is what will be done to his oxen!"The fear of ADONAI fell on the people, and they came out with united hearts.

The people said to Sh'mu'el, "Who are the men who said, 'Is Sha'ul to rule over us?' Hand them over to us, so we can put them to death."

But Sha'ul said, "No one will be put to death today, because today ADONAI has rescued Isra'el."

Then Sh'mu'el said to the people, "Come, let's go to Gilgal and inaugurate the kingship there.

So all the people went to Gilgal; and there in Gilgal, before ADONAI, they made Sha'ul king. They presented sacrifices as peace offerings before ADONAI there, and there Sha'ul and all the people of Isra'el celebrated with great joy.

Avigayil wasted no time in taking 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already prepared, six quarts of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins and 200 fig cakes, and having them loaded on donkeys.

Then she said to her young men, "Go on ahead of me, and I'll come along after you." But she didn't tell her husband Naval.

She was riding her donkey down past the hiding-place in the mountain, when David and his men descended toward her, and she met them.

David had said, "What a waste it has been guarding everything this fellow has in the desert, so that nothing of his was missing! He has repaid me bad for good!"

Then he swore, "May God do the same and more to David's enemies if I leave alive even one male of everything he owns."

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."

David said to Avigayil, "Blessed be ADONAI the God of Isra'el, who sent you today to meet me;

and blessed be your tactfulness, and blessed be yourself for having kept me today from the guilt of shedding blood and taking vengeance into my own hands.