2 Samuel 14

1Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart was on Absalom.

2So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He said to her, “Please pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning clothes, and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead a long time.

3Then go to the king and speak to him in this way.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.

4When the woman from Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell with her face to the ground and bowed down, and she said, “Help me, O king!”

5The king said to her, “What is troubling you?” She said, “I am a widow; my husband is dead.

6Your servant had two sons, and the two of them got into a fight in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.

7Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant. They say, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed. We will destroy the heir as well.’ So they would put out the one coal I have left, and leave my husband neither name nor survivor on the face of the earth.”

8The king said to the woman, “Go home, and I will give orders on your behalf.”

9But the woman from Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, let the guilt be on me and on my father’s house, and let the king and his throne be innocent.”

10The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will never trouble you again.”

11She said, “Then please let the king invoke Yahweh your God, so that the avenger of blood may not add to the destruction, and my son will not be destroyed.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”

12Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.”

13The woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? In saying this, the king has convicted himself, because the king has not brought back the one he banished.

14We must all die. We are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways so that a banished person will not remain an outcast from him.

15Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps the king will do what his servant asks.

16Surely the king will listen and rescue his servant from the hand of the man who would cut off both me and my son from the inheritance of God.’

17And your servant thought, ‘May the word of my lord the king give me rest,’ for my lord the king is like the angel of God in discerning good and evil. May Yahweh your God be with you!”

18Then the king said to the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I am about to ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.”

19The king asked, “Is the hand of Joab with you in 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 says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me; he put all these words in the mouth of your servant.

20Your servant Joab did this to change the way things stand. But my lord is wise, with wisdom like that of the angel of God, knowing everything that happens in the land.”

21Then the king said to Joab, “Very well, I will do this. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.”

22Joab fell with his face to the ground, bowed down, 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 your servant’s request.”

23So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.

24But the king said, “He must go to his own house; he must not see my face.” So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the king’s face.

25In all Israel there was no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head there was no flaw in him.

26Whenever he cut the hair of his head—he cut it at the end of every year, because it became too heavy for him—he would weigh the hair of his head, and it weighed two hundred shekels by the royal standard.

27Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman.

28Absalom lived in Jerusalem two full years without seeing the king’s face.

29Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So he sent again a second time, but he still refused to come.

30Then he said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

31Then Joab went at once to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”

32Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I sent word to you, ‘Come here, so that I can send you to the king to ask, “Why did I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.”’ Now let me see the king’s face, and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death.”

33So Joab went to the king and told him. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came to the king and bowed down to him with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.