The Wise Woman of Tekoa
1Joab son of Zeruiah realized that the king’s heart was set on Absalom. 2So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought back a wise woman. He said to her, “Pretend to be in mourning — put on mourning clothes, don’t anoint yourself with oil, and act like a woman who has been grieving for the dead for a long time. 3Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth. 4When the woman from Tekoa came to the king, she fell facedown on the ground and bowed low, and said, “Help me, Your Majesty!” 5The king said to her, “What is troubling you?” She said, “I am indeed a widow — my husband is dead. 6Your servant had two sons. The two of them got into a fight out in the field, and since there was no one to separate them, one struck the other and killed him. 7Now the whole clan has risen against your servant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, so we may put him to death for the life of the brother he killed’ — and so destroy the heir as well. They would put out the last ember I have left, leaving my husband no name or descendant on the face of the earth.” 8The king said to the woman, “Go home, and I will issue an order on your behalf.” 9The woman from Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, let the guilt fall on me and on my father’s house, and let the king and his throne be innocent.” 10The king said, “If anyone says anything more to you, bring him to me, and he will never touch you again.” 11She said, “Please, may the king invoke the name of Yahweh your God, so that the avenger of blood may not bring further ruin and destroy my son.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, not a single hair of your son will fall to the ground.” 12Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak one more word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” 13The woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? By saying this, the king convicts himself, since he has not brought back the one he has banished. 14We will all die eventually; we are like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that the banished one need not remain estranged from him. 15Now, the reason I have come to say this to my lord the king is that the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, I will speak to the king — perhaps he will grant his servant’s request. 16For the king will surely listen and rescue his servant from the hand of the man who is trying to cut off both me and my son from the inheritance God gave us. 17Your servant thought, may the word of my lord the king bring me relief, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May Yahweh your God be with you.” 18The king answered the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” 19The king said, “Is the hand of Joab behind you in all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or the left from anything my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who instructed me; he put all these words in your servant’s mouth. 20Your servant Joab did this to change the way things look, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of an angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.” 21The king said to Joab, “Very well, I will do this. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.” 22Joab fell facedown on the ground and bowed low, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant’s request.” 23So Joab set out, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24But the king said, “Let him go to his own house; he must not see my face.” So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the king’s face.
Absalom’s Return to Jerusalem
25In all Israel there was no one so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom — from the sole of his foot to the top of his head, there was no blemish in him. 26Whenever he cut the hair of his head — he had it cut once a year because it grew too heavy for him — he would weigh the hair, and it weighed two hundred shekels by the royal standard. 27Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter named Tamar, who became a beautiful woman. 28Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face. 29Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. Absalom sent for him a second time, but he still refused to come. 30So he said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. 31Then Joab got up, went to Absalom’s house, and said to him, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?” 32Absalom said to Joab, “I sent word to you, saying, Come here, so I can send you to the king to ask, Why did I ever come back from Geshur? It would have been better for me to stay there. Now then, let me see the king’s face, and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death.” 33So Joab went to the king and told him. The king summoned Absalom, and he came to the king and bowed down before him with his face to the ground. And the king kissed Absalom.
