2 Samuel 14
1 Joab son of Zeruiah realized that the king’s heart was turned toward Absalom.
2 Joab sent for a wise woman from Tekoa and said to her, “Pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning clothes and do not use oil. Be like a woman who has been mourning for someone who died many days ago.
3 Go to the king and speak to him this way.” Then Joab put the words into her mouth.
4 The woman from Tekoa went to speak with the king. She fell face down on the ground, bowed low, and said, “Help me, O king!”
5 The king asked her, “What is troubling you?” She answered, “Alas, I am a widow. My husband has died.
6 Your servant had two sons. The two of them fought in the field, and there was no one to separate them. One struck the other and killed him.
7 Now the whole family has risen against your servant and says, ‘Hand over the one who killed his brother, so we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed. We will also destroy the heir.’ They would snuff out the last ember I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.”
8 The king said to the woman, “Go home, and I will give orders concerning you.”
9 The woman from Tekoa said to the king, “Let the guilt fall on me, my lord the king, and on my father’s house. The king and his throne are innocent.”
10 The king said, “If anyone speaks against you, bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again.”
11 She said, “May the king remember the LORD your God, so that the avenger of blood does not increase the destruction and they do not destroy my son.” He replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, not one hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
12 The woman said, “May your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” He said, “Speak.”
13 The woman said, “Why, then, have you thought this way against the people of God? By saying this, the king makes himself guilty, since the king does not bring back his banished one.
14 For we will surely die, and we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up. God does not take life; rather, he makes plans so that the banished one will not remain banished from us.
15 Now, if I have come to speak this matter to my lord the king, it is because the people frightened me. So your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king; perhaps the king will grant the request of his servant.
16 For the king will listen and rescue his servant from the hand of the man who wants to destroy me and my son together, cutting us off from God’s inheritance.’
17 Your servant thought, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest,’ for my lord the king is like the angel of God, discerning good and evil. May the LORD your God be with you!”
18 The king answered the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I am about to ask you.” The woman said, “Speak, my lord the king.”
19 The king asked, “Is Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who instructed me, and he put all these words into the mouth of your servant.
20 Your servant Joab did this to change the appearance of the matter. But my lord is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, and knows everything that happens on earth.”
21 The king said to Joab, “All right, I will do this. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 Joab fell face down on the ground, bowed low, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of his servant.”
23 Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 But the king said, “Let him go to his own house, and he must not see my face.” So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the king.
25 In all Israel there was no man so highly praised for his good looks as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he had no defect.
26 When he cut his hair—and he cut it from time to time because it became too heavy—the hair from his head weighed two hundred shekels by the royal standard.
27 Three sons and a daughter were born to Absalom. The daughter’s name was Tamar, and she was a beautiful woman.
28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two full years without seeing the king.
29 Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab would not come. He sent for him a second time, but Joab would not come.
30 So he said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
31 Joab got up, went to Absalom’s house, and asked him, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 Absalom answered Joab, “I sent for you to say, ‘Come here, and I will send you to the king to ask, “Why did I come back from Geshur? I would have been better off staying there.”’ Now I want to see the king’s face. If I am guilty, let him put me to death.”
33 Joab went to the king and told him. The king summoned Absalom, and he came to the king and bowed down before him, face to the ground. Then the king kissed Absalom.
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