2 Samuel 14

The Woman of Tekoa

1Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that 1the king’s heart was inclined toward Absalom. 2So Joab sent to 2Tekoa and 3brought a wise woman from there and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not 4anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days; 3then go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” So Joab put 5the words in her mouth.

4Now when the woman of Tekoa 6spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and 7prostrated herself and said, “8Help, O king.” 5The king said to her, “What is your trouble?” And she 9answered, “Truly I am a widow, for my husband is dead. 6Your maidservant had two sons, but the two of them struggled together in the field, and there was no 10one to separate them, so one struck the other and killed him. 7Now behold, 11the whole family has risen against your maidservant, and they say, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, 12and destroy the heir also.’ Thus they will extinguish my coal which is left, so as to 13leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.”

8Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” 9The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “O my lord, the king, 14the iniquity is on me and my father’s house, but 15the king and his throne are guiltless.” 10So the king said, “Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore.” 11Then she said, “Please let the king remember the Lord your God, 16so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy, otherwise they will destroy my son.” And he said, “17As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

12Then the woman said, “Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.” 13The woman said, “18Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring back 19his banished one. 14For 20we will surely die and are 21like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans 22ways so that 23the banished one will not be cast out from him. 15Now 24the reason I have come to speak this word to my lord the king is that the people have made me afraid; so your maidservant said, ‘Let me now speak to the king, perhaps the king will perform the 25request of his maidservant. 16For the king will hear 26and deliver his maidservant from the 27hand of the man who would destroy 28both me and my son from 29the inheritance of God.’ 17Then your maidservant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king be 30comforting, for as 31the angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil. And may the Lord your God be with you.’”

18Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide anything from me that I am about to ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king please speak.” 19So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman replied, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Indeed, it was 32your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant; 20in order to change the appearance of things your servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, 33like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know all that is in the earth.”

Absalom Is Recalled

21Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, 34I will surely do this thing; go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom.” 22Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself and blessed the king; then Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, O my lord, the king, in that the king has performed the 35request of his servant.” 23So Joab arose and went to 36Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24However the king said, “Let him turn to 37his own house, and let him not see my face.” So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king’s face.

25Now in all Israel was no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; 38from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. 26When he 39cut the hair of his head (and it was at the end of every year that he cut it, for it was heavy on him so he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels by the king’s weight. 2740To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter whose name was 41Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance.

28Now Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, 42and did not see the king’s face. 29Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. So he sent again a second time, but he would not come. 30Therefore he said to his servants, “See, 43Joab’s 44field is next to mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the 45field on fire. 31Then Joab arose, came to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why have your servants set my 46field on fire?” 32Absalom 47answered Joab, “Behold, I sent for you, saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me still to be there.”’ Now therefore, let me see the king’s face, 48and if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death.” 33So when Joab came to the king and told him, he called for Absalom. Thus he came to the king and prostrated himself on his face to the ground before the king, and 49the king kissed Absalom.