2 Samuel
Chapter 14
1 Joab, Zeruiah’s son, noticed that the king felt kindly toward Absalom.
2 Joab sent to Tekoah and brought back a smart woman and said to her, “Please pretend to be grieving. Dress in sad clothes and don’t put on any perfume. Act like you have been mourning a death for a long time.”
3 Go to the king and say these things to him. So Joab gave her the words to say.
4 When the woman from Tekoah spoke to the king, she bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “Help me, O king.”
5 The king asked her, “What’s wrong?” She answered, “I am truly a widow; my husband has died.”
6 Your servant had two sons, and they fought in the field with no one to separate them, and one hit the other and killed him.
7 Look, the whole family has turned against your servant, and they said, ‘Hand over the one who hit his brother, so we can kill him for taking his brother’s life; and we want to get rid of the heir too. This way, they would put out the only surviving part of my family, leaving my husband with no one to carry on his name or future on earth.
8 The king told the woman, “Go to your home, and I will take care of you.”
9 The woman from Tekoah said to the king, “My king, let the wrong be my fault and my family’s fault, and let the king and his throne be innocent.”
10 And the king said, “If anyone bothers you, bring them to me, and they won’t bother you again.”
11 She said, “Please, let the king remember God, so you don’t let those seeking revenge kill again, or they might kill my son.” He replied, “As long as God lives, not a single hair from your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
12 Then the woman said, “Please let me, your servant, say one thing to you, the king.” And he replied, “Go ahead.”
13 The woman asked, “Why have you planned something so harmful against God’s people? The king talks like he’s wrong because he doesn’t bring back his exiled ones.”
14 We must die and are like water poured on the ground that can’t be collected again; God doesn’t favor anyone, yet he finds ways to keep his exiled people close to him.
15 So now I have come to talk to the king about this matter because the people made me scared: and I thought, ‘I will speak to the king; perhaps the king will do what I ask.’
16 The king will listen and save his servant from the man who wants to kill me and my son, taking away God’s inheritance from us.
17 Then I thought, ‘My king’s decision will bring peace.’ You have the wisdom of an angel from God to know right from wrong, so God will be with you.
18 The king replied to the woman, “Please don’t hide what I’m about to ask you.” The woman said, “Go ahead, your majesty, ask me.”
19 The king asked, “Isn’t Joab involved in all this with you?” The woman replied, “I swear by your life, my king, no one can ignore any of your words. Your servant Joab told me what to do and said exactly what I should say.”
20 Joab did this to make this conversation happen, and my master is as wise as an angel of God, knowing everything on earth.
21 The king told Joab, “Look, I have decided: go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 Joab fell to the ground, facedown, and bowed, thanking the king. Joab said, “Today, I, your servant, know that I am favored by you, my lord, the king, because you have granted your servant’s request.”
23 Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
24 The king said, “Let him go to his own house and not see me.” So Absalom went to his house and did not see the king.
25 But in all Israel, no one was as praised for their beauty as Absalom; from his foot to his head, he had no flaws.
26 Every year, he cut his hair because it was too heavy. When he cut it, he found it weighed two hundred shekels by the royal standard.
27 Absalom had three sons and one daughter named Tamar; she was very beautiful.
28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two full years without seeing the king.
29 So Absalom asked Joab to bring him to the king, but Joab refused to come. Even when Absalom asked a second time, Joab wouldn’t come.
30 So he told his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine and it has barley; go and burn it.” Then Absalom’s servants burned the field.
31 Joab got up, went to Absalom’s house, and asked him, “Why did your servants burn my field?”
32 Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I called for you, telling you to come here so I could send you to the king and ask, ‘Why did I leave Geshur? It would have been better for me to stay there. Now let me see the king, and if I have done wrong, let him put me to death.’”
33 Joab went to the king and told him. When Absalom was called, he went to the king, bowed with his face to the ground, and the king kissed Absalom.