2 Samuel 14:18-20

Common English Bible

^18 [a] The king answered the woman, “I must ask you something—don’t hide anything from me!”

The woman said, “Please, my master and king, speak.”

¹⁹ So the king said, “Has Joab put you up to this?”

The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my master and king, no one can deviate a bit from whatever my master and king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who directed me, and it was Joab who told your female servant to say all these things. ²⁰ Your servant Joab did this to change the way things look.^[b] But my master’s wisdom is like the wisdom of one of God’s own messengers—he knows everything that takes place in the land.”