2 Samuel 14
14
1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. 2Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, “Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and don’t anoint yourself with oil; but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead. 3Go in to the king and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!”
5 The king said to her, “What ails you?”
She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6Your servant had two sons; and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other and killed him. 7Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.’ Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.”
8 The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.”
9 The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”
10 The king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you any more.”
11 Then she said, “Please let the king remember the LORD your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son.”
He said, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.”
12 Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.”
He said, “Say on.”
13 The woman said, “Why then have you devised 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 home again his banished one. 14For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him. 15Now therefore, seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’ 16For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. 17Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May the LORD, your God, be with you.’”
18 Then the king answered the woman, “Please don’t hide anything from me that I ask you.”
The woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.”
19 The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”
The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. 20Your servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.”
21 The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.”
22 Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.”
23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24The king said, “Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, and didn’t see the king’s face. 25Now in all Israel there was no one to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. 26When he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year’s end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels,#14:26 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 200 shekels is about 2 kilograms or about 4.4 pounds. after the king’s weight. 27Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face. 28Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and he didn’t see the king’s face. 29Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. Then he sent again a second time, but he would not come. 30Therefore he said to his servants, “Behold, Joab’s field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
31 Then Joab arose and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?”
32Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent to 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 to be there still. Now therefore, let me see the king’s face; and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”’”
33 So Joab came to the king and told him; and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.
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PUBLIC DOMAIN
2 Samuel 14
14
Joab Arranges for Absalom's Return
1Joab knew that King David missed Absalom very much, 2so he sent for a clever woman who lived in Tekoa. When she arrived, he said to her, “Pretend that you are in mourning; put on your mourning clothes, and don't comb your hair. Act like a woman who has been in mourning for a long time. 3Then go to the king and say to him what I tell you to say.” Then Joab told her what to say.
4The woman went to the king, bowed down to the ground in respect, and said, “Help me, Your Majesty!”
5“What do you want?” he asked her.
“I am a poor widow, sir,” she answered. “My husband is dead. 6Sir, I had two sons, and one day they got into a quarrel out in the fields, where there was no one to separate them, and one of them killed the other. 7And now, sir, all my relatives have turned against me and are demanding that I hand my son over to them, so that they can kill him for murdering his brother. If they do this, I will be left without a son. They will destroy my last hope and leave my husband without a son to keep his name alive.”
8“Go back home,” the king answered, “and I will take care of the matter.”
9“Your Majesty,” she said, “whatever you do, my family and I will take the blame; you and the royal family are innocent.”
10The king replied, “If anyone threatens you, bring him to me, and he will never trouble you again.”
11She said, “Your Majesty, please pray to the LORD your God, so that my relative who is responsible for avenging the death of my son will not commit a greater crime by killing my other son.”
“I promise by the living LORD,” David replied, “that your son will not be harmed in the least.”
12“Please, Your Majesty, let me say just one more thing,” the woman said.
“All right,” he answered.
13She said to him, “Why have you done such a wrong to God's people? You have not allowed your own son to return from exile, and so you have condemned yourself by what you have just said. 14We will all die; we are like water spilt on the ground, which can't be gathered again. Even God does not bring the dead back to life, but the king can at least find a way to bring a man back from exile.#14.14 Probable text Even God… from exile; Hebrew unclear. 15Now, Your Majesty, the reason I have come to speak to you is that the people threatened me, and so I said to myself that I would speak to you in the hope that you would do what I ask. 16I thought you would listen to me and save me from the one who is trying to kill my son and me and so remove us from the land God gave his people. 17#2 Sam 19.27I said to myself that your promise, sir, would make me safe, because the king is like God's angel and can distinguish good from evil.#14.17 can distinguish good from evil; or knows everything. May the LORD your God be with you!”
18The king answered, “I'm going to ask you a question, and you must tell me the whole truth.”
“Ask me anything, Your Majesty,” she answered.
19“Did Joab put you up to this?” he asked her.
She answered, “I swear by all that is sacred, Your Majesty, that there is no way to avoid answering your question.#14.19 there is… question; or you are absolutely right. It was indeed your officer Joab who told me what to do and what to say. 20But he did it in order to straighten out this whole matter. Your Majesty is as wise as the angel of God and knows everything that happens.”
21Later on the king said to Joab, “I have decided to do what you want. Go and get the young man Absalom and bring him back here.”
22Joab threw himself to the ground in front of David in respect, and said, “God bless you, Your Majesty! Now I know that you are pleased with me, because you have granted my request.” 23Then he got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. 24The king, however, gave orders that Absalom should not live in the palace. “I don't want to see him,” the king said. So Absalom lived in his own house and did not appear before the king.
Absalom is Reconciled to David
25There was no one in Israel as famous for his good looks as Absalom; he had no defect from head to foot. 26His hair was very thick, and he had to cut it once a year, when it grew too long and heavy. It would weigh more than two kilogrammes according to the royal standard of weights. 27Absalom had three sons and one daughter named Tamar, a very beautiful woman.
28Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king. 29Then he sent for Joab, to ask him to go to the king for him; but Joab would not come. Again Absalom sent for him, and again Joab refused to come. 30So Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and it has barley growing in it. Go and set fire to it.” So they went and set the field on fire.
31Joab went to Absalom's house and demanded, “Why did your servants set fire to my field?”
32Absalom answered, “Because you wouldn't come when I sent for you. I wanted you to go to the king and ask him from me: ‘Why did I leave Geshur and come here? It would have been better for me to have stayed there.’ ” And Absalom went on, “I want you to arrange for me to see the king, and if I'm guilty, then let him put me to death.”
33So Joab went to King David and told him what Absalom had said. The king sent for Absalom, who went to him and bowed down to the ground in front of him. The king welcomed him with a kiss.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.