2SA-14:1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's

heart [was] toward Absalom.

2SA-14:2 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:

2SA-14:3 And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him.

 So Joab put the words in her mouth.

2SA-14:4 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.

2SA-14:5 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she

answered, I [am] indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.

2SA-14:6 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.

2SA-14:7 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.

2SA-14:8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house,

and I will give charge concerning thee.

2SA-14:9 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.

2SA-14:10 And the king said, Whosoever saith [ought] unto thee,

bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.

2SA-14:11 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.

2SA-14:12 Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee,

speak [one] word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.

2SA-14:13 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.

2SA-14:14 For we must needs die, and [are] as water spilled 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.

2SA-14:15 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.

2SA-14:16 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.

2SA-14:17 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.

2SA-14:18 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.

2SA-14:19 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:

2SA-14:20 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.

2SA-14:21 And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done

this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again.

2SA-14:22 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.

2SA-14:23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom

to Jerusalem.

2SA-14:24 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.

2SA-14:25 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.

2SA-14:26 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.

2SA-14:27 And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one

daughter, whose name [was] Tamar: she was a woman of a fair

countenance.

2SA-14:28 So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw

not the king's face.

2SA-14:29 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.

2SA-14:30 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.

2SA-14:31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto [his] house,

and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on

fire?

2SA-14:32 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.

2SA-14:33 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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