Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NRSVUE

2 Samuel 14:1-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

14 Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s mind was on Absalom.(A) 2 Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner; put on mourning garments, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead.(B) 3 Go to the king and speak to him as follows.” And Joab put the words into her mouth.(C)

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!”(D) 5 The king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead.(E) 6 Your servant had two sons, and they fought with one another in the field; there was no one to part them, and one struck the other and killed him. 7 Now the whole family has risen against your servant. They say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, so that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he murdered, even if we destroy the heir as well.’ Thus they would quench my one remaining ember and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.”(F)

8 Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” 9 The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father’s house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.”(G) 10 The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.” 11 Then she said, “Please, may the king keep the Lord your God in mind, so that the avenger of blood may kill no more and my son not be destroyed.” He said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”(H)

12 Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” 13 The woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring his banished one home again.(I) 14 We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take away a life; he will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from his presence.[b](J) 15 Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid; your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. 16 For the king will hear and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would cut both me and my son off from the heritage of God.’ 17 Your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,’ for my lord the king is like the angel of God, discerning good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!”(K)

18 Then the king answered the woman, “Do not withhold from me anything I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” 19 The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered and said, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn right or left from anything that my lord the king has said. For it was your servant Joab who commanded me; it was he who put all these words into the mouth of your servant.(L) 20 In order to change the course of affairs your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.”(M)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 14.4 Heb mss Gk Syr Vg: MT said
  2. 14.14 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Close ISV

2 Samuel 14:1-20
International Standard Version

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]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 14:1 Lit. king’s heart was toward
  2. 2 Samuel 14:2 Lit. Joab
  3. 2 Samuel 14:2 The Heb. lacks messengers
  4. 2 Samuel 14:2 Lit. using anointing oil
  5. 2 Samuel 14:5 The Heb. lacks problem
  6. 2 Samuel 14:5 I.e. a widow of meager resources, low social status, and limited circumstances, therefore eligible to receive special assistance from Israel’s society.
  7. 2 Samuel 14:7 Lit. The
  8. 2 Samuel 14:7 Lit. the coal that is; i.e. the only remaining heir
  9. 2 Samuel 14:10 Lit. touching
  10. 2 Samuel 14:11 The Heb. lacks head
  11. 2 Samuel 14:12 The Heb. lacks it
  12. 2 Samuel 14:14 Lit. though to death we all die
  13. 2 Samuel 14:14 The Heb. lacks we’re
  14. 2 Samuel 14:14 MT verb for cast away permanently is an intensive form of the verb estranged
  15. 2 Samuel 14:15 The Heb. lacks to herself
  16. 2 Samuel 14:16 Lit. palm
  17. 2 Samuel 14:16 The Heb. lacks to us
  18. 2 Samuel 14:19 Lit. Is the hand of Joab with you in
  19. 2 Samuel 14:20 Or land; or going on in the land
Next
2 Samuel 13
2 Samuel 15
Next
dropdown
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

International Standard Version (ISV)

Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.

ISV Bible