2 Samuel 14
Lexham English Bible
Joab Plots to Reconcile David with Absalom
14 Joab the son of Zeruiah realized that the mind of the king was on Absalom. 2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, “Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself with oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for a long time.[a] 3 Then you must go to the king and speak to him according to this word.” Thus Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 So the Tekoite woman spoke to the king, and she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance. She said, “Help me, O king!” 5 Then the king asked her, “What do you want?”[b] And she said, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6 Your servant had two sons, and they both fought in the open field, and there was no one to part them.[c] One struck the other and killed him. 7 And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, ‘Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,’ and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth.”
8 Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I myself will give the command concerning you.” 9 The Tekoite woman said to the king, “On me, my lord the king, is the guilt, and on the house of my father, but the king on[d] his throne is innocent.” 10 The king said, “Whoever has spoken to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again.” 11 Then she said, “Please may the king remember Yahweh your God, to prevent the increase of blood avengers who kill,[e] so that they not wipe out my son.” He said, “As Yahweh lives,[f] surely not one hair shall fall from your son to the ground.” 12 The woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.” 13 The woman said, “But why have you plotted like this against the people of God? By speaking this word, he is guilty not to bring back his banished one. 14 For we must certainly die,[g] and we are as the waters spilled to the ground which cannot be gathered. God will not take a life but devises plans for a banished person not to be cast out from him. 15 Now I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, because the people made me afraid, and your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king, perhaps the king will grant[h] the request of his servant. 16 For the king will listen, to deliver his servant from the hand of the man who seeks to destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.’ 17 Your servant also thought, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring rest,[i] for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, to sense what is good and what is bad.’[j] May Yahweh your God be with you.” 18 The king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not withhold from me a thing which I am about to ask you.” The woman said, “Please let my lord the king speak.” 19 The king asked, “Was the hand of Joab with you in all of this?” The woman answered and said, “As your soul lives,[k] my lord the king, surely one cannot go to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken. Yes, your servant Joab himself commanded me, and he put all of these words in the mouth of your servant. 20 In order to change the situation,[l] your servant Joab did this thing. But my lord has wisdom, as the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all that is on the earth.” 21 Then the king said to Joab, “Look, please, I will grant this thing. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.” 22 Joab fell with his face to the ground and did obeisance. And he blessed the king, and he[m] said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.”
Absalom Returns to Jerusalem
23 Then Joab got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 The king said, “Let him go over to his house, and he may not see my face.” So Absalom went over to his house, and did not see the face of the king. 25 As far as Absalom, there was not a more handsome man in all of Israel to admire so much; from the sole of his foot up to his crown, there was no physical defect on him. 26 When he shaved his head, it would happen every year,[n] which he did because it was heavy on him, he would shave it off and weigh the hair of his head: two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.[o] 27 Three sons were born to Absalom and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman beautiful of appearance. 28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem two full years,[p] but he did not see the face of the king. 29 So Absalom sent for Joab, in order that he send him to the king, but he was not willing to go to him. He sent again a second time, but he was not willing to go. 30 So he said to his servants, “Look at the tract of land of Joab next to mine,[q] for he has barley plants there. Go, set it ablaze with fire.” So the servants of Absalom set the tract of land ablaze with fire. 31 Then Joab got up and went to Absalom, to the house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my tract of land ablaze with fire?” 32 Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I have sent to you, saying, ‘Come here that I may send you to the king to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.”’ So then, let me see the face of the king; if there is guilt in me, then let him kill me.” 33 So Joab went to the king and he told him. Then he summoned Absalom, and he came to the king, and he bowed down to him with his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed Absalom.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 14:2 Literally “many days”
- 2 Samuel 14:5 Literally “What is for you”
- 2 Samuel 14:6 Literally “to save between them”
- 2 Samuel 14:9 Hebrew “and”
- 2 Samuel 14:11 Literally “from making numerous the avenger of blood to kill”
- 2 Samuel 14:11 Literally “The life of Yahweh”
- 2 Samuel 14:14 Literally “dying we must die”
- 2 Samuel 14:15 Hebrew “do/make”
- 2 Samuel 14:17 Literally “become a rest”
- 2 Samuel 14:17 Literally “to hear the good and the bad”
- 2 Samuel 14:19 Literally “The life of your soul”
- 2 Samuel 14:20 Literally “to turn the face of the thing”
- 2 Samuel 14:22 Hebrew “Joab”
- 2 Samuel 14:26 Literally “from the end of days for the days”
- 2 Samuel 14:26 Literally “by the stone of the king”
- 2 Samuel 14:28 Literally “two years of days”
- 2 Samuel 14:30 Literally “toward my hand”
2 Samuel 14
New Living Translation
Joab Arranges for Absalom’s Return
14 Joab realized how much the king longed to see Absalom. 2 So he sent for a woman from Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; wear mourning clothes and don’t put on lotions.[a] Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. 3 Then go to the king and tell him the story I am about to tell you.” Then Joab told her what to say.
4 When the woman from Tekoa approached[b] the king, she bowed with her face to the ground in deep respect and cried out, “O king! Help me!”
5 “What’s the trouble?” the king asked.
“Alas, I am a widow!” she replied. “My husband is dead. 6 My two sons had a fight out in the field. And since no one was there to stop it, one of them was killed. 7 Now the rest of the family is demanding, ‘Let us have your son. We will execute him for murdering his brother. He doesn’t deserve to inherit his family’s property.’ They want to extinguish the only coal I have left, and my husband’s name and family will disappear from the face of the earth.”
8 “Leave it to me,” the king told her. “Go home, and I’ll see to it that no one touches him.”
9 “Oh, thank you, my lord the king,” the woman from Tekoa replied. “If you are criticized for helping me, let the blame fall on me and on my father’s house, and let the king and his throne be innocent.”
10 “If anyone objects,” the king said, “bring him to me. I can assure you he will never harm you again!”
11 Then she said, “Please swear to me by the Lord your God that you won’t let anyone take vengeance against my son. I want no more bloodshed.”
“As surely as the Lord lives,” he replied, “not a hair on your son’s head will be disturbed!”
12 “Please allow me to ask one more thing of my lord the king,” she said.
“Go ahead and speak,” he responded.
13 She replied, “Why don’t you do as much for the people of God as you have promised to do for me? You have convicted yourself in making this decision, because you have refused to bring home your own banished son. 14 All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.
15 “I have come to plead with my lord the king because people have threatened me. I said to myself, ‘Perhaps the king will listen to me 16 and rescue us from those who would cut us off from the inheritance[c] God has given us. 17 Yes, my lord the king will give us peace of mind again.’ I know that you are like an angel of God in discerning good from evil. May the Lord your God be with you.”
18 “I must know one thing,” the king replied, “and tell me the truth.”
“Yes, my lord the king,” she responded.
19 “Did Joab put you up to this?”
And the woman replied, “My lord the king, how can I deny it? Nobody can hide anything from you. Yes, Joab sent me and told me what to say. 20 He did it to place the matter before you in a different light. But you are as wise as an angel of God, and you understand everything that happens among us!”
21 So the king sent for Joab and told him, “All right, go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 Joab bowed with his face to the ground in deep respect and said, “At last I know that I have gained your approval, my lord the king, for you have granted me this request!”
23 Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. 24 But the king gave this order: “Absalom may go to his own house, but he must never come into my presence.” So Absalom did not see the king.
Absalom Reconciled to David
25 Now Absalom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot. 26 He cut his hair only once a year, and then only because it was so heavy. When he weighed it out, it came to five pounds![d] 27 He had three sons and one daughter. His daughter’s name was Tamar, and she was very beautiful.
28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he never got to see the king. 29 Then Absalom sent for Joab to ask him to intercede for him, but Joab refused to come. Absalom sent for him a second time, but again Joab refused to come. 30 So Absalom said to his servants, “Go and set fire to Joab’s barley field, the field next to mine.” So they set his field on fire, as Absalom had commanded.
31 Then Joab came to Absalom at his house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 And Absalom replied, “Because I wanted you to ask the king why he brought me back from Geshur if he didn’t intend to see me. I might as well have stayed there. Let me see the king; if he finds me guilty of anything, then let him kill me.”
33 So Joab told the king what Absalom had said. Then at last David summoned Absalom, who came and bowed low before the king, and the king kissed him.
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