⁵“What do you want?” he asked her. “I am a poor widow, sir,” she answered. “My husband is dead. ⁶Sir, I had two sons, and one day they got into a quarrel out in the fields, where there was no one to separate them, and one of them killed the other. ⁷And now, sir, all my relatives have turned against me and are demanding that I hand my son over to them, so that they can kill him for murdering his brother. If they do this, I will be left without a son. They will destroy my last hope and leave my husband without a son to keep his name alive.”

⁸“Go back home,” the king answered, “and I will take care of the matter.”

⁹“Your Majesty,” she said, “whatever you do, my family and I will take the blame; you and the royal family are innocent.”

¹⁰The king replied, “If anyone threatens you, bring him to me, and he will never trouble you again.”

¹¹She said, “Your Majesty, please pray to the Lord your God, so that my relative who is responsible for avenging the death of my son will not commit a greater crime by killing my other son.”

“I promise by the living Lord,” David replied, “that your son will not be harmed in the least.”

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