2 Samuel 14:4–11

⁴When the woman from Tekoa came ^kto the king, she fell with her face to the ground in homage ^land said, “Help me, my king!”

⁵“What’s the matter?” the king asked her.

“To tell the truth, I am a widow; my husband died,” she said. ^m6“Your servant had two sons. They were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant and said, ‘Hand over the one who killed his brother so we may put him to death for the life of the brother he murdered. We will destroy the heir!’ They would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on earth.” ⁿ

⁸The king told the woman, “Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf.”

⁹Then the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me ^oand my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be innocent.”

¹⁰“Whoever speaks to you,” the king said, “bring him to me. He will not trouble you again!”

¹¹She replied, “Please, may the king invoke the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son!” ^p

“As the Lord lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son will fall to the ground.” ^q