2 Samuel 14:1-21

Joab's Scheme for Absalom's Return

14¹ Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was inclined toward Absalom . ² So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner , and put on mourning garments now , and do not anoint yourself with oil , but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days ; ³ then go to the king and speak to him in this manner ." So Joab put the words in her mouth . ⁴ Now when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king , she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself and said , " Help , O king ." ⁵ The king said to her, "What is your trouble?" And she answered , "Truly I am a widow , for my husband is dead . ⁶ "Your maidservant had two sons , but the two of them struggled together in the field , and there was no one to separate them, so one struck the other and killed him. ⁷ "Now behold , the 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 , and destroy the heir also .' Thus they will extinguish my coal which is left , so as to leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth ." ⁸ Then the king said to the woman , "Go to your house , and I will give orders concerning you." ⁹ The woman of Tekoa said to the king , "O my lord , the king , the iniquity is on me and my father's house , but the king and his throne are guiltless ." ¹⁰ So the king said , "Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore e ." ¹¹ Then she said , "Please let the king remember the Lord your God , so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy , otherwise they will destroy my son ." And he said , " As the Lord lives , not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground ." ¹² Then the woman said , "Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king ." And he said , "Speak ." ¹³ The woman said , " Why 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 his banished one . ¹⁴ "For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life , but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from him. ¹⁵ "Now the 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 request of his maidservant . ¹⁶ 'For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would destroy both me and my son from the inheritance of God .' ¹⁷ "Then your maidservant said , 'Please let the word of my lord the king be comforting , for as the angel of God , so is my lord the king to discern good and evil . And may the Lord your God be with you.' " ¹⁸ Then 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 ." ¹⁹ So 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 your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant ; ²⁰ in order to change the appearance of things your servant Joab has done this thing . But my lord is wise , like the wisdom of the angel of God , to know all that is in the earth ."

²¹ Then the king said to Joab , "Behold now , I will surely do this thing ; go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom ."