Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh; and evil shall not be found in you all your days.
Abigail was careful "neither to exculpate Nabal nor to appear disloyal to him. . . . In short, she must win David without betraying Nabal. Abigail devises the perfect solution to the dilemma: she intercedes on behalf of Nabal (1 Samuel 25:24), although conceding that he has no case and no hope of survival (1 Samuel 25:25-26). In other words, while overtly defending him, she covertly dissociates herself from him." [Note: Levenson, p. 230.] 