| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Joab son of Zeruiah observed that the king's mind was on Absalom. | 1Meanwhile, Zeruiah's son Joab knew that the king's attention was focused on Absalom, |
| 2So Joab sent someone to Tekoa to bring a clever woman from there. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning: dress in mourning clothes and don't put on any oil. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. | 2so he sent messengers to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, "Please play the role of a mourner, wear the clothes of a mourner, and refrain from using makeup. Act like a woman who's been in mourning for the dead for many days. |
| 3Go to the king and speak these words to him." Then Joab told her exactly what to say. | 3Then go to the king and speak to him like this…" Then Joab told her what to say. |
| 4When the woman from Tekoa came to the king, she fell with her face to the ground in homage and said, "Help me, my king!"" | 4When the woman from Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, prostrating herself to address him, "Help, your majesty!" |
| 5What's the matter?" the king asked her." To tell the truth, I am a widow; my husband died," she said." | 5The king asked her, "What's your problem?" "I've been a widowed woman ever since my husband died," she answered. |
| 6Your servant had two sons. They were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. | 6"Your humble servant used to have two sons, but they got into a fight out in the field. Because there was no one to keep them apart, one of them attacked the other and killed him. |
| 7Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant and said, 'Hand over the one who killed his brother so we may put him to death for the life of the brother he murdered. We will destroy the heir!' They would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband's name or posterity on earth." | 7Now please pay attention closely! My whole family is attacking your humble servant! They're saying, 'Turn over the one who attacked his brother and we'll put him to death in retribution for his brother, whose life he took. That way, we'll kill the heir also!' They're going to extinguish the only light left in my family, leaving my late husband neither an ongoing name nor a survivor on the face of the earth!" |
| 8The king told the woman, "Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf." | 8Then the king replied to the woman, "Go home and I'll issue a special order just for you." |
| 9Then the woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord the king, may any blame be on me and my father's house, and may the king and his throne be innocent."" | 9But the woman from Tekoa told the king, "Your majesty, let any guilt for this be on me and on my ancestors' household, and not on my king or his throne!" |
| 10Whoever speaks to you," the king said, "bring him to me. He will not trouble you again!" | 10The king replied, "Bring anyone who talks to you about this to me, and he certainly won't be bothering you anymore!" |
| 11She replied, "Please, may the king invoke the LORD your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son!"" As the LORD lives," he vowed, "not a hair of your son will fall to the ground." | 11Then she said, "Your majesty, please remember the LORD your God, so that blood avengers don't do any more damage! Otherwise, they'll destroy my son!" So he promised, "As the LORD lives, not even a single hair from your son's head will fall to the ground!" |
| 12Then the woman said, "Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?"" Speak," he replied. | 12At this, the woman responded, "Would your majesty the king please allow your humble servant to say one more thing?" "Say it…" he replied. |
| 13The woman asked, "Why have you devised something similar against the people of God? When the king spoke as he did about this matter, he has pronounced his own guilt. The king has not brought back his own banished one. | 13"Why, then," the woman asked, "are you planning to act just like this against God's people? Based on what your majesty has said, you're acting like one who is guilty himself, because you're not bringing back the one whom you've banished! |
| 14We will certainly die and be like water poured out on the ground, which can't be recovered. But God would not take away a life; He would devise plans so that the one banished from Him does not remain banished." | 14After all, even though we all die, and we're all like water being spilled on the ground that cannot be recovered, nevertheless God doesn't take away life, but carries out his plans so as not to cast away permanently from him those who are presently estranged. |
| 15Now therefore, I've come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought: I must speak to the king. Perhaps the king will grant his servant's request. | 15"Now as to why I've come to speak with your majesty the king, it's because the people have made me afraid, so your humble servant told herself, 'I'll go speak to the king, so perhaps the king will do what his humble servant has requested. |
| 16The king will surely listen in order to rescue his servant from the hand of this man who would eliminate both me and my son from God's inheritance. | 16Perhaps the king will listen and deliver his humble servant from the oppression of the man who intends to eliminate both me and my son from what God has apportioned to us!' |
| 17Your servant thought: May the word of my lord the king bring relief, for my lord the king is able to discern the good and the bad like the Angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you." | 17"So your humble servant is saying, 'Please, your majesty, let what the king has to say be of comfort, because just as the angel of God is, so also is your majesty the king to discern both good and evil. And may the LORD your God remain present with you.'" |
| 18Then the king answered the woman, "I'm going to ask you something; don't conceal it from me!"" Let my lord the king speak," the woman replied. | 18In reply, the king asked the woman, "Please don't conceal anything about which I'm going to be asking you now." So the woman replied, "Please, your majesty, let the king speak." |
| 19The king asked, "Did Joab put you up to all this?" The woman answered. "As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or left from all my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave orders to me; he told your servant exactly what to say. | 19Then the king asked, "Is Joab behind all of this with you?" "As your soul lives, your majesty, the king," the woman answered, "no one can divert anything left or right from what your majesty the king has spoken! As a matter of fact, it was your servant Joab! He was there, giving me precise orders about everything that your humble servant was to say. Your servant Joab did this, |
| 20Joab your servant has done this to address the issue indirectly, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the Angel of God, knowing everything on earth." | 20intending to change the outcome of this matter. Nevertheless, your majesty is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to be aware of everything that's going on throughout the earth." |
| 21Then the king said to Joab, "I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom." | 21Then the king addressed Joab, "Look! I'll do this thing that you've requested. Go bring back the young man Absalom." |
| 22Joab fell with his face to the ground in homage and praised the king. "Today," Joab said, "your servant knows I have found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your servant." | 22At this, Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrating himself to bless the king, and then said, "Today your servant realizes that he's found favor with you, your majesty, in that the king has acted on the request of his servant." |
| 23So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. | 23Then Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. |
| 24However, the king added, "He may return to his house, but he may not see my face." So Absalom returned to his house, but he did not see the king. | 24Nevertheless, the king said, "Let him return to his own home and not show his face to me." So Absalom returned to his own home and did not show his face to the king. |
| 25No man in all Israel was as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw. | 25Now throughout all of Israel no one was as handsome as Absalom or so highly praised, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there wasn't a single thing wrong about him. |
| 26When he shaved his head--he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy for him that he had to shave it off--he would weigh the hair from his head and it would be five pounds according to the royal standard. | 26Whenever he cut his hair —he cut it at the end of every year, because it grew thick on his head, which is why he cut it—his hair weighed in at 200 shekels measured by the royal standard. |
| 27Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman. | 27Absalom fathered three sons and one daughter, whom he named Tamar. She was a beautiful woman, both in form and appearance. |
| 28Absalom resided in Jerusalem two years but never saw the king. | 28Meanwhile, Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but never saw the king's face. |
| 29Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab was unwilling to come. So he sent again, a second time, but he still wouldn't come. | 29After this, Absalom sent for Joab, intending to send him to the king, but Joab would not come. Absalom sent for him a second time, but he still would not come. |
| 30Then Absalom said to his servants, "See, Joab has a field right next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set fire to it!" So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. | 30So Absalom told his servants, "Observe that Joab's grain field lies next to mine. He has barley planted there. Go set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. |
| 31Then Joab came to Absalom's house and demanded, "Why did your servants set my field on fire?"" | 31At this, Joab got up, went to Absalom's home, and demanded of him, "Why did your servants set fire to my grain field?" |
| 32Look," Absalom explained to Joab, "I sent for you and said, 'Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? I'd be better off if I were still there.' So now, let me see the king. If I am guilty, let him kill me." | 32In answer to Joab, Absalom replied, "Look, I sent for you, telling you 'Come here so I can send you to the king to ask him "What's the point in moving here from Geshur? I would have been better off to have remained there!"' So let me see the king's face, and if I'm guilty of anything, let him execute me!" |
| 33Joab went to the king and told him. So David summoned Absalom, who came to the king and bowed down with his face to the ground before him. Then the king kissed Absalom. | 33So when Joab approached the king and told him what Absalom had said, he summoned Absalom, who then came to the king and fell to the ground on his face in front of him. Then the king kissed Absalom. |
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