³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^(A)will receive his approval, ⁴ for ^(B)he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^(C)an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

⁷ And ^(A)will not God give justice to ^(B)his elect, ^(C)who cry to him day and night? ^(D)(E)Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them ^(F)speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, ^(G)will he find faith on earth?”

⁵ And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, ^(A)“Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶ And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷ And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would ^(B)destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor ^(C)remnant on the face of 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, ^(D)“On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father's house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.” 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 let the king invoke the Lord your God, that ^(E)the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed.” He said, ^(F)“As the Lord lives, ^(G)not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

¹² Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” ¹³ And the woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against ^(H)the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring ^(I)his banished one home again. ¹⁴ We must all die; we are ^(J)like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means ^(K)so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. ¹⁵ Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid, and 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 destroy me and my son together from ^(L)the heritage of God.’ ¹⁷ And your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,’ for my lord the king is ^(M)like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!”

¹⁸ Then the king answered the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I ask you.” And 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, ^(N)“As surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who commanded me; ^(O)it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant. ²⁰ In order to change the course of things your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of ^(P)the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.”

²¹ Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.” ²² And Joab fell on his face to the ground and paid homage ^(Q)and blessed the king. And Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.” ²³ So Joab arose and went to ^(R)Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴ And the king said, “Let him dwell apart in his own house; he is not to come into my presence.” So Absalom lived apart in his own house and did not come into the king's presence.

^19 (A)“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

The Unfaithful City