⁴ When the woman of Tekoa came^[a] to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance and said, “Help, O king!”^(A)

²⁶ Now as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king!” ²⁷ He said, “If the Lord does not help you, where would my help come from? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” ²⁸ But then the king asked her, “What is your complaint?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’

² On the third day, a man came from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and did obeisance.^(A)

²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from the donkey and fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground.^(A)

³ In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”^[a]

⁴¹ As soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap^[a] and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He bowed three times, and they kissed each other and wept with each other; David wept the more.^[b]