A Wise Woman - 2 Samuel 14

2 Samuel 14:1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the  king’s heart was toward Absalom. 

2 Samuel 14:2 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:  

2 Samuel 14:3 And come to the king, and speak on this manner  unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.  

2 Samuel 14:4 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. 

2 Samuel 14:5 And the king said unto her, What  aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow  woman, and mine husband is dead. 

2 Samuel 14:6 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. 

2 Samuel 14:7 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. 

2 Samuel 14:8 And the king said unto the  woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge  concerning thee. 

2 Samuel 14:9 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. 

2 Samuel 14:10 And the king said, Whosoever saith  ought unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch  thee any more. 

2 Samuel 14:11 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. 

2 Samuel 14:12 Then  the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak  one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.  

2 Samuel 14:13 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. 

2 Samuel 14:14 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. 

2 Samuel 14:15 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.  

2 Samuel 14:16 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. 

2 Samuel 14:17 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. 

2 Samuel 14:18 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. 

2 Samuel 14:19 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: 

2 Samuel 14:20 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.   

2 Samuel 14:21 And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have  done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom  again. 

2 Samuel 14:22 And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and  bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, Today  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. 

2 Samuel 14:23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and  brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 

2 Samuel 14:24 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.  

2 Samuel 14:25 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.  

2 Samuel 14:26 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.  

2 Samuel 14:27 And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and  one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman  of a fair countenance.  

2 Samuel 14:28 So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem,  and saw not the king’s face. 

2 Samuel 14:29 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. 

2 Samuel 14:30 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. 

2 Samuel 14:31 Then Joab arose, and came to  Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore  have thy servants set my field on fire? 

2 Samuel 14:32 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. 

2 Samuel 14:33 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.  KJV

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