1Now Joab, the son of Zeruiah, perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.
2And Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched a wise woman from there, and said to her, “I want you to pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who had mourned for the dead for a long time;
3And come to the king, and speak to him in this manner.” Then Joab told her what to say.
4And so when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, bowed, and said, “Help, O king”.
5And the king asked her, “What ails you?” And she answered, “I am a widow woman, my husband being dead.
6And I had two sons, and the two fought together in the field, with no one to part them, and the one struck and killed the other.
7And, now the whole family has risen against me, and said, ‘Turn over the one who killed his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also’: and so they shall put out the only coal that is left to me, and shall leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth”.
8And the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning your matter.”
9And the woman said to the king, “My lord, O king, pardon the my iniquity, and that of my father's house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless”.
10And the king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not bother you any more”.
11Then said she, “I pray you, let the king remember the LORD your God, that you would not permit the avengers of blood to destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son”. And he said, “As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth”.
12Then the woman said, “Let me, I pray you, speak one more word to the king”. And he said, “Say on”.
13And the woman said, “Why, then, have you thought such a thing against the people of God? For the king says this thing as one who is himself at fault, because the king does not fetch back home his own banished son.
14For we must all die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; nor does God respect any person; yet He devises means so that His banished are not expelled from Him.
15Now, therefore, I have come to speak of this thing to my lord, the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. And I said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will grant the request of his handmaid’.
16For the king will hear, to deliver me out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17Then I said, “The word of my lord, the king, shall now be comforting; for as an angel of God, so is my lord, the king, to discern good and bad. Therefore, may the LORD your God will be with you”.
18Then the king said to the woman, “Do not hide from me the thing that I shall ask you”. And the woman said, “Let my lord, the king, now speak”.
19And the king said, “Did Joab not put you up to this?” And the woman answered and said, “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 it was your servant Joab who ordered me, and he put all these words in my mouth;
20To change the direction of this matter has your servant, Joab, done this thing; and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth”.
21Then the king said to Joab, “Very well, I will do this thing; go, bring the young man, Absalom, back”.
22And Joab fell to the ground on his face, bowed himself, and thanked the king; and said, “Today your servant knows that I have found grace in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant”.
23So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24And the king said, “Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face”. So Absalom returned to his own house, but saw not the king's face.
25But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his appearance; from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
26And when he cut the hair of his head, (for it was at the end every year that he cut it; because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he cut it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels (5 pounds) after the king's weight.
27And to Absalom three sons were born, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar; she was a beautiful woman.
28So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and did not see the king's face.
29Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have him sent to the king; but Joab would not come to him; and when he sent the second time, he still would not come.
30Then, he said to his servants, “See, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire”. And Absalom's servants set the field on fire.
31Then Joab came to Absalom’s house, and said, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?”
32And Absalom answered, “Look, I sent for you, saying, “Come here, that I may send you to the king, to ask, ‘Why am I come from Geshur? It had been better for me to have remained there.’ Now, therefore, let me see the king's face; and if there is any iniquity in me, let him kill me”.
33So Joab went to the king, and told him; and when David had summoned Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom. Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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