Joab’s Plan Regarding Absalom

14 Meanwhile, Zeruiah’s son Joab knew that the king’s attention was focused on Absalom,^{[a] 2} so he^[b] sent messengers^[c] to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please play the role of a mourner, wear the clothes of a mourner, and refrain from using makeup.^[d] Act like a woman who’s been in mourning for the dead for many days. ³ Then go to the king and speak to him like this…” Then Joab told her what to say.

⁴ When the woman from Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, prostrating herself to address him, “Help, your majesty!”

⁵ The king asked her, “What’s your problem?”^[e]

“I’ve been a widowed woman^[f] ever since my husband died,” she answered. ⁶ “Your humble servant used to have two sons, but they got into a fight out in the field. Because there was no one to keep them apart, one of them attacked the other and killed him. ⁷ Now please pay attention closely! My^[g] whole family is attacking your humble servant! They’re saying, ‘Turn over the one who attacked his brother and we’ll put him to death in retribution for his brother, whose life he took. That way, we’ll kill the heir also!’ They’re going to extinguish the only light^[h] left in my family, leaving my late husband neither an ongoing name nor a survivor on the face of the earth!”

⁸ Then the king replied to the woman, “Go home and I’ll issue a special order just for you.”

⁹ But the woman from Tekoa told the king, “Your majesty, let any guilt for this be on me and on my ancestors’ household, and not on my king or his throne!”

¹⁰ The king replied, “Bring anyone who talks to you about this to me, and he certainly won’t be bothering^[i] you anymore!”

¹¹ Then she said, “Your majesty, please remember the Lord your God, so that blood avengers don’t do any more damage! Otherwise, they’ll destroy my son!”

So he promised, “As the Lord lives, not even a single hair from your son’s head^[j] will fall to the ground!”

¹² At this, the woman responded, “Would your majesty the king please allow your humble servant to say one more thing?”

“Say it…”^[k] he replied.

¹³ “Why, then,” the woman asked, “are you planning to act just like this against God’s people? Based on what your majesty has said, you’re acting like one who is guilty himself, because you’re not bringing back the one whom you’ve banished! ¹⁴ After all, even though we all die,^[l] and we’re^[m] all like water being spilled on the ground that cannot be recovered, nevertheless God doesn’t take away life, but carries out his plans so as not to cast away permanently from him those who are presently estranged.^[n]

¹⁵ “Now as to why I’ve come to speak with your majesty the king, it’s because the people have made me afraid, so your humble servant told herself,^[o] ‘I’ll go speak to the king, so perhaps the king will do what his humble servant has requested. ¹⁶ Perhaps the king will listen and deliver his humble servant from the oppression^[p] of the man who intends to eliminate both me and my son from what God has apportioned to us!’^[q]

¹⁷ “So your humble servant is saying, ‘Please, your majesty, let what the king has to say be of comfort, because just as the angel of God is, so also is your majesty the king to discern both good and evil. And may the Lord your God remain present with you.’”

¹⁸ In reply, the king asked the woman, “Please don’t conceal anything about which I’m going to be asking you now.”

So the woman replied, “Please, your majesty, let the king speak.”

¹⁹ Then the king asked, “Is Joab behind all of this with you?”^[r]

“As your soul lives, your majesty, the king,” the woman answered, “no one can divert anything left or right from what your majesty the king has spoken! As a matter of fact, it was your servant Joab! He was there, giving me precise orders about everything that your humble servant was to say. Your servant Joab did this, ²⁰ intending to change the outcome of this matter. Nevertheless, your majesty is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to be aware of everything that’s going on throughout the earth.”^[s]