³ Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ^[a]‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’

³ For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? ^(A)Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. ⁴ For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

⁷ And ^(A)shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? ⁸ I tell you ^(B)that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

⁵ Then the king said to her, “What troubles you?”

And she answered, ^(A)“Indeed I am a widow, my husband is dead. ⁶ Now your maidservant had two sons; and the two fought with each other in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other and killed him. ⁷ And now the whole family has risen up against your maidservant, and they said, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may execute him ^(B)for the life of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also.’ So they would extinguish my ember that is left, and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the earth.”

⁸ Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.”

⁹ And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, let ^(C)the ^[a]iniquity be on me and on my father’s house, ^(D)and the king and his throne be guiltless.”

¹⁰ So the king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you anymore.”

¹¹ Then she said, “Please let the king remember the Lord your God, and do not permit ^(E)the avenger of blood to destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son.”

And he said, ^(F)“As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

¹² Therefore the woman said, “Please, let your maidservant speak another word to my lord the king.”

And he said, “Say on.”

¹³ So the woman said: “Why then have you schemed such a thing against ^(G)the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring ^(H)his banished one home again. ¹⁴ For we ^(I)will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not ^(J)take away a life; but He ^(K)devises means, so that His banished ones are not ^[b]expelled from Him. ¹⁵ Now therefore, I have come to speak of this thing to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. And your maidservant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his maidservant. ¹⁶ For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the ^(L)inheritance of God.’ ¹⁷ Your maidservant said, ‘The word of my lord the king will now be comforting; for ^(M)as the angel of God, so is my lord the king in ^(N)discerning good and evil. And may the Lord your God be with you.’ ”

¹⁸ Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide from me anything that I ask you.”

And the woman said, “Please, let my lord the king speak.”

¹⁹ So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answered and said, “As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me, and ^(O)he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant. ²⁰ To bring about this change of affairs your servant Joab has done this thing; but my lord is wise, ^(P)according to the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that is in the earth.”

²¹ And the king said to Joab, “All right, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom.”

²² Then Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself, and ^[c]thanked the king. And Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant.” ²³ So Joab arose ^(Q)and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴ And the king said, “Let him return to his own house, but ^(R)do not let him see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but did not see the king’s face.