2 Samuel 14
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8
9 10 11
12 13 14
15 16 17
18 19
20 21 22 23
24
1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah
perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.
2 And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched
thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a
mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but
be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:
3 And come to the king, and speak on this
manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 And when the woman of Tekoah spake to
the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help,
O king.
5 And the king said unto her, What aileth
thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is
dead.
6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they
two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but
the one smote the other, and slew him.
7 And, behold, the whole family is risen
against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that
we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy
the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not
leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to
thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee.
9 And the woman of Tekoah said unto the
king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house:
and the king and his throne be guiltless.
10 And the king said, Whosoever saith ought
unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.
11 Then said she, I pray thee, let the
king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of
blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the
LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.
12 Then the woman said, Let thine
handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said,
Say on.
13 And the woman said, Wherefore then hast
thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak
this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again
his banished.
14 For we must needs die, and are
as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth
God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be
not expelled from him.
15 Now therefore that I am come to speak
of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made
me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that
the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
16 For the king will hear, to deliver his
handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son
together out of the inheritance of God.
17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of
my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is
my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be
with thee.
18 Then the king answered and said unto
the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And
the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.
19 And the king said, Is not the
hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As
thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the
left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade
me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:
20 To fetch about this form of speech hath
thy 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.
21 And the king said unto
Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man
Absalom again.
22 And Joab fell to the ground on his
face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant
knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king
hath fulfilled the request of his servant.
23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and
brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 And the king said, Let him turn to his
own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house,
and saw not the king’s face.
25 But in all Israel there was none to be
so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the
crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
26 And when he polled his head, (for it
was at every year’s end that he polled it: because the hair was
heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two
hundred shekels after the king’s weight.
27 And unto Absalom there were born three
sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair
countenance.
28 So Absalom dwelt two full
years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face.
29 Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to
have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again
the second time, he would not come.
30 Therefore he said unto his servants,
See, Joab’s field is near mine, and he hath barley there; go and set it on
fire. And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom
unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my
field on fire?
32 And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I
sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say,
Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been
there still: now therefore let me see the king’s face; and if there be any
iniquity in me, let him kill me.
33 So Joab came to the king, and told him:
and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on
his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.
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