And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched from there a wise woman, and said to her, I pray you, pretend to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman that has a long time mourned for the dead:
And when he had come near to her, the woman said, Are you Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.
Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they drew back from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.
Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful appearance: but the man was rude and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.