²⁰ So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread,^(A) a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.

²⁷ But some scoundrels^(A) said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts.^(B) But Saul kept silent.

¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers^(A) are and bring back some assurance^[a] from them.

David and Ziba

16 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba,^(A) the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.^(B)

² The king asked Ziba, “Why have you brought these?”

Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is to refresh^(C) those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”

¹⁸ Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs^[a] of roasted grain,^(A) a hundred cakes of raisins^(B) and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.^(C)

¹¹ Then their father Israel^(A) said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products^(B) of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift^(C)—a little balm^(D) and a little honey, some spices^(E) and myrrh,^(F) some pistachio nuts and almonds.