It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her so she met them. She said to her young men, вЂњGo on before me behold, I am coming after you.вЂќ But she did not tell her husband Nabal. Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.вЂќ Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. For I am become like a bottle in the smoke I do not forget thy statutes. For I have become like a wine-skin black with smoke but I still keep the memory of your rules. For I am become like a wine-skin in the smoke Yet do I not forget thy statutes.

These wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are torn and these our clothes and our sandals are worn out because of the very long journey.вЂќД«ut one of the young men told Abigail, NabalвЂ™s wife, saying, вЂњBehold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them. &0183 &32 Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, вЂTake provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, вЂњWe are your servants now then, make a covenant with us.вЂќвЂ™ This our bread was warm when we took it for our provisions out of our houses on the day that we left to come to you but now behold, it is dry and has become crumbled. They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, вЂњWe have come from a far country now therefore, make a covenant with us.вЂќ The men of Israel said to the Hivites, вЂњPerhaps you are living within our land how then shall we make a covenant with you?вЂќ But they said to Joshua, вЂњWe are your servants.вЂќ Then Joshua said to them, вЂњWho are you and where do you come from?вЂќ They said to him, вЂњYour servants have come from a very far country because of the fame of the Lord your God for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth.

When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and mended, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled.

Wineskin in the smoke