¹⁶ Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, I want to speak to you.’ ”^(A)

² Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner; put on mourning garments, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead.^(A)

¹⁴ There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. ¹⁵ Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.^{(A) 16} So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”^(B)

³² David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!^{(A) 33} Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand!

³ Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean; he was a Calebite.