|
Chapter 14 |
| 1 | Now Joab the
son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom. |
| 2 |
And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I
pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and
anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for
the dead: |
| 3
| And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him.
So Joab put the words in her mouth. |
| 4 | And when the woman of Tekoah
spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and
said, Help, O king. |
| 5 | And the king said unto her, What aileth thee?
And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
|
| 6 | And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the
field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew
him. |
| 7 |
And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid,
and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for
the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so
they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband
neither name nor remainder upon the earth. |
|
8 | And the king said unto
the woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee.
|
| 9 | And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the
iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be
guiltless. |
| 10
| And the king said, Whoever saith ought unto thee, bring
him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more. |
| 11 | Then said
she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest
not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my
son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall
to the earth. |
|
12 | Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray
thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on. |
| 13 |
And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the
people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in
that the king doth not fetch home again his banished. |
| 14 | For we must
needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up
again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his
banished be not expelled from him. |
| 15 | Now therefore that I am come
to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have
made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may
be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid. |
| 16 | For the
king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would
destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. |
| 17 | Then
thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for
as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore
the LORD thy God will be with thee. |
| 18 | Then the king answered and
said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask
thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak. |
| 19 | And the
king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman
answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the
right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy
servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine
handmaid: |
| 20
| To fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab
done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of
God, to know all things that are in the earth. |
| 21 | And the king
said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the
young man Absalom again. |
|
22 | And Joab fell to the ground on his
face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy
servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that
the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant. |
| 23 | So Joab
arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. |
| 24 | And the
king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So
Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king's face. |
| 25 | But
in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty:
from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in
him. |
| 26 |
And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end
that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:)
he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's
weight. |
| 27
| And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one
daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.
|
| 28 | So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's
face. |
| 29 |
Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king;
but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would
not come. |
| 30
| Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab's field is
near mine, and he hath barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom's
servants set the field on fire. |
| 31 | Then Joab arose, and came to
Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my
field on fire? |
|
32 | And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto
thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore
am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now
therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let
him kill me. |
|
33 | So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he
had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to
the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom. |
