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BibleCompass

/Chapter 14

14 / 24

2 Samuel

ESV

Chapter 14

¹Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom. ²So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. ³Go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. ⁴When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and paid homage and said, “Save me, O king!” ⁵And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶Your servant had two sons, and they fought with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, but one struck the other and killed him. ⁷And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.” ⁸Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” ⁹And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father's house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.” ¹⁰The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you anymore.” ¹¹Then she said, “Please let the king remember the LORD your God, to prevent the avenger of blood from committing further destruction, lest they destroy my son.” He said, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.” ¹²Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” ¹³And 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 his banished one home again. ¹⁴For we must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. God does not take away life, but he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. ¹⁵Now therefore I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid, and your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king; perhaps the king will perform the request of his servant. ¹⁶For the king will hear, and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.’ ¹⁷And your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will comfort me, for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The LORD your God be with you!’” ¹⁸Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” ¹⁹The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered and said, “As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who ordered me; he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. ²⁰In order to change the course of things your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.” ²¹Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.” ²²Then Joab fell on his face to the ground and paid homage and blessed the king. And Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the 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 dwell apart in his own house; he is not to come into my presence.” So Absalom lived apart in his own house and did not come into the king's presence. ²⁵Now in all Israel there was no one to be praised so much for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. ²⁶And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king's weight. ²⁷There were born to Absalom three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman. ²⁸So Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem without coming into the king's presence. ²⁹Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. And he sent a second time, but Joab would not come. ³⁰Then he said to his servants, “See, 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 arose and went to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” ³²Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent word to you, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to ask, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.” Now therefore let me go into the presence of the king, and if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death.’” ³³So Joab went 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.