The Woman of Tekoa

14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah knew that ^(A)the king’s heart was inclined toward Absalom. ² So Joab sent to ^(B)Tekoa and ^[a]brought a wise woman from there and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not ^(C)anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days; ³ then you shall go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” So Joab put ^(D)the words in her mouth.

⁴ So the woman of Tekoa ^[b]spoke to the king, and she fell on her ^[c]face to the ground and ^(E)prostrated herself and said, “^(F)Save, O king.” ⁵ And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” And she ^[d]answered, “Truly I am a widow; my husband has died. ⁶ And your servant-woman had two sons, but the two of them struggled together in the field, and there was no one to deliver between them, so one struck the other and put him to death. ⁷ And behold, ^(G)the whole family has risen against your servant-woman, and they say, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, ^(H)and destroy the heir also.’ Thus they will extinguish my coal which remains, so as to ^[e]leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.”

⁸ Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.” ⁹ And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “O my lord, the king, ^(I)the iniquity is on me and my father’s house, but ^(J)the king and his throne are guiltless.” ¹⁰ So the king said, “Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore.” ¹¹ Then she said, “Please let the king remember Yahweh your God, ^(K)so that the avenger of blood will not continue to bring about ruin, so that they would not destroy my son.” And he said, “^(L)As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

¹² Then the woman said, “Please let your servant-woman speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.” ¹³ Then the woman said, “^(M)Why then have you thought up such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring back ^(N)his banished one. ¹⁴ For ^(O)we will surely die and are ^(P)like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but thinks up ^[f]ways so that ^(Q)the banished one will not be cast out from him. ¹⁵ So now, ^[g]the reason I have come to speak this word to my lord the king is that the people have made me afraid; so your servant-woman said, ‘Let me now speak to the king, perhaps the king will perform the word of his maidservant. ¹⁶ For the king will listen ^[h]and deliver his maidservant from the ^[i]hand of the man who would destroy ^[j]both me and my son from ^(R)the inheritance of God.’ ¹⁷ Then your servant-woman said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king be a resting place, for as ^(S)the angel of God, so is my lord the king to listen with discernment through the good and evil. And may Yahweh your God be with you.’”

¹⁸ Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide anything from me that I am about to ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king please speak.” ¹⁹ So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answered and said, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Indeed, it was ^(T)your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant-woman; ²⁰ in order to change the appearance of things your servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, ^(U)like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know all that is in the earth.”