2 Samuel 14

Joab Sends a Wise Woman from Tekoa

1Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. 2So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman. He said to her, “Please pretend to mourn. Put on mourning garments, do not anoint yourself with oil, and be like a woman who has mourned many days over the dead. 3Then go to the king and speak to him according to this word.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.

The Woman Tells David a Story

4The woman of Tekoa spoke to the king. She fell on her face to the ground and bowed down and said, “Save, O king!” 5The king said to her, “What is it with you?” She said, “Truly I am a widow; my husband is dead. 6Your servant had two sons, and the two of them fought in the field, and there was no one to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. 7And look, the whole clan has risen against your servant and says, ‘Give over the one who struck his brother, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed and destroy the heir also.’ Thus they will extinguish my coal that remains and leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the ground.” 8The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give command concerning you.” 9The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “Upon me, my lord the king, be the guilt, and upon my father’s house, but the king and his throne be innocent.” 10The king said, “Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again.” 11Then she said, “Please let the king remember the LORD your God, so that the avenger of blood does not increase destruction and they do not destroy my son.” He said, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the ground.”

The Woman Turns the Parable toward Absalom

12Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” 13The 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 guilty, in that the king does not bring back his banished one. 14For we must surely die and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered again. But God does not take away life; rather, he devises means so that the banished one may not remain banished from him. 15And now I have come to speak this word to my lord the king because the people frightened me. Your servant said, ‘Please let me speak to the king; perhaps the king will do the word of his servant. 16For the king will listen, to rescue his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.’ 17Your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king give rest, for as a messenger of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil. May the LORD your God be with you.’”

David Discerns Joab’s Hand

18Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide from me anything that I ask you.” The woman said, “Please 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 your life lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. 20In order to change the face of the matter your servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, like the wisdom of a messenger of God, to know all that is in the land.”

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

21Then the king said to Joab, “Look now, I have done this thing. Go therefore; bring back the young man Absalom.” 22Joab fell with his face to the ground, bowed down, blessed the king, and said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has done the word of his servant.” 23So Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24But the king said, “Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face.” So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king’s face.

Absalom’s Appearance and Family

25In all Israel there was no man so greatly praised for beauty as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. 26When he cut the hair of his head—and it was at the end of every year that he cut it, because it was heavy upon him, so he cut it—he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels by the king’s weight. 27To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a woman beautiful in appearance.

Absalom Forces Joab to Intervene

28Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face. 29Then Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab was not willing to come to him. He sent again a second time, but he was not willing to come. 30So he said to his servants, “See, Joab’s field is beside 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 came to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” 32Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I sent to you, saying, ‘Come here, so that I may send you to the king to say, “Why did I come from Geshur? It would be better for me still to be there.”’ And now let me see the king’s face, and if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death.” 33So Joab went to the king and told him. He called Absalom, and he came to the king and bowed down on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.