2 Samuel 14:4–11

⁴When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, ^yshe fell on her face to the ground and paid homage and said, ^z“Save me, O king.” ⁵And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, ^a“Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would ^bdestroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor ^cremnant on the face of the earth.”

⁸Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” ⁹And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, ^d“On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father’s house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.” ¹⁰The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.” ¹¹Then she said, “Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that ^ethe avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed.” He said, ^f“As the Lord lives, ^gnot one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”