1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the kings heart was toward Absalom.
2 And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, and said to her, Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel; do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead.
3 Go to the king and speak to him in this manner. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 And when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself, and said, Help, O king!
5 And the king said to her, What is troubling you? And she answered, Truly I am a widow and my husband is dead.
6 And your handmaid had two sons; and the two fought with each other in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other and killed him.
7 And now the whole family has risen up against your handmaid, and said, Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may execute him for the soul of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also. Thus they would extinguish my ember that is left, and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant upon the face of the earth.
8 And the king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give command concerning you.
9 And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, let the iniquity be on me and on my fathers house, and the king and his throne be guiltless.
10 And the king said, Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you anymore.
11 And she said, Please let the king remember Jehovah your God, and do not permit the avenger of blood to destroy anymore, that they not destroy my son. And he said, As Jehovah lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.
12 Then the woman said, Please, let your handmaid speak another word to my lord the king. And he said, Speak.
13 And the woman said: Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring his banished one home again.
14 For we die the death and are like water poured on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a soul; but has devised plans, so that His banished ones are not thrust away from Him.
15 Now therefore, I have come to speak of this thing to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. And your handmaid thought, I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will carry out the word of his handmaid.
16 For the king will hear and deliver his handmaid from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17 And your handmaid thought, The word of my lord the king will now be comforting; for as the angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil. And Jehovah your God be with you.
18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, Please do not hide from me anything that I am asking you. And the woman said, Let my lord the king speak.
19 So the king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman answered and said, As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab has commanded me, and he has put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid.
20 In order to change around the face of this matter your servant Joab has done this thing; but my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all that is in the earth.
21 And the king said to Joab, Behold, I have done this thing. Go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom.
22 And Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself, and blessed the king. And Joab said, Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, O king, in that the king has done the word of his servant.
23 So Joab rose up and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 And the king said, Let him return to his own house, but he shall not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, but did not see the kings face.
25 Now in all Israel there was no one as handsome as Absalom, and highly praised. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
26 And when he shaved his head (at the end of a year of days he shaved it because it was heavy on him; therefore he shaved it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels according to the kings weight stones.
27 And to Absalom were born three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a woman of beautiful appearance.
28 And Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and did not see the kings face.
29 Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. And when he sent again the second time, he would not come.
30 So he said to his servants, Behold, Joabs field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absaloms servants set the field on fire.
31 Then Joab arose and came to Absaloms house, and said to him, Why have your servants set my field on fire?
32 And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here, so that I may send you to the king, to say, Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore, let me see the kings face; but if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death.
33 So Joab went to the king and reported to him. And when he had summoned Absalom, he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.