⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept^(A) you from sinning against me.^(B) That is why I did not let you touch her.

³⁴ Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal^(A) would have been left alive by daybreak.”

²⁶ And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed^(A) and from avenging^(B) yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.^(C)

⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God^(A) fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.^(B)

⁷ yet your father has cheated^(A) me by changing my wages^(B) ten times.^(C) However, God has not allowed him to harm me.^(D)

⁷ For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back^(A) will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.