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II SAMUEL ยท Chapter 14
14:1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was
toward Absalom.
14:2 And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and
said unto her, I pray you, feign yourself to be a mourner, and put on now
mourning apparel, and anoint not yourself with oil, but be as a woman that
had a long time mourned for the dead:
14:3 And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him. So Joab
put the words in her mouth.
14:4 And when the woman of Tekoah spoke to the king, she fell on her
face to the ground, and did reverence, and said, Help, O king.
14:5 And the king said unto her, What disturbs you? And she answered,
I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
14:6 And your handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in
the field, and there was none to part them, but the one stroke the other,
and slew him.
14:7 And, behold, the whole family has risen against your handmaid,
and they said, Deliver him that stroke 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.
14:8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to your house, and I will
give charge concerning you.
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.
14:10 And the king said, Whoever says ought unto you, bring him to
me, and he shall not touch you any more.
14:11 Then said she, I pray you, let the king remember the LORD your
God, that you would not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more,
lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD lives, there shall not
one hair of your son fall to the earth.
14:12 Then the woman said, Let your handmaid, I pray you, speak one
word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.
14:13 And the woman said, Wherefore then have you thought such a thing
against the people of God? for the king does speak this thing as one which
is faulty, in that the king does not fetch home again his banished.
14:14 For we must essentially die, and are as water spilt on the ground,
which cannot be gathered up again; neither does God respect any person:
yet does he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.
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 your handmaid
said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform
the request of his handmaid.
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.
14:17 Then your 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 your God will be with you.
14:18 Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from
me, I pray you, the thing that I shall ask you. And the woman said, Let
my lord the king now speak.
14:19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this?
And the woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my lord the king,
none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord
the king has spoken: for your servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all
these words in the mouth of your handmaid:
14:20 To fetch about this form of speech has your 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.
14:21 And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing:
go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again.
14:22 And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and
thanked the king: and Joab said, To day your servant knows that I have
found grace in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has fulfilled
the request of his servant.
14:23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
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.
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.
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.
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.
14:28 So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the
king's face.
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.
14:30 Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab's field is near
mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom's servants
set the field on fire.
14:31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said
unto him, Wherefore have your servants set my field on fire?
14:32 And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto you, saying, Come
here, that I may send you 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.
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.
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