Now I have heard that you have shearers: your shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them, all the while they were in Carmel.
"This would seem to be an instance of negotiation with an invitation to Nabal to enter into a regulated covenant with David." [Note: D. J. Wiseman, "’Is it peace?’-Covenant and Diplomacy," Vetus Testamentum 32:3 (1982):318.] 