14Joab the son of Zeruiah realized that the mind of the king was on Absalom. ²So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, “Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself with oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for a long time.^a ³Then you must go to the king and speak to him according to this word.” Thus Joab put the words in her mouth.

⁴So the Tekoite woman spoke to the king, and she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance. She said, “Help me, O king!” ⁵Then the king asked her, “What do you want?”^b And she said, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. ⁶Your servant had two sons, and they both fought in the open field, and there was no one to part them.^c One struck the other and killed him. ⁷And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, ‘Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,’ and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth.”

⁸Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I myself will give the command concerning you.” ⁹The Tekoite woman said to the king, “On me, my lord the king, is the guilt, and on the house of my father, but the king on^d his throne is innocent.” ¹⁰The king said, “Whoever has spoken to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again.” ¹¹Then she said, “Please may the king remember Yahweh your God, to prevent the increase of blood avengers who kill,^e so that they not wipe out my son.” He said, “As Yahweh lives,^f surely not one hair shall fall from your son to the ground.” ¹²The woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.” ¹³The woman said, “But why have you plotted like this against the people of God? By speaking this word, he is guilty not to bring back his banished one. ¹⁴For we must certainly die,^g and we are as the waters spilled to the ground which cannot be gathered. God will not take a life but devises plans for a banished person not to be cast out from him. ¹⁵Now I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, because the people made me afraid, and your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king, perhaps the king will grant^h the request of his servant. ¹⁶For the king will listen, to deliver his servant from the hand of the man who seeks to destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.’ ¹⁷Your servant also thought, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring rest,ⁱ for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, to sense what is good and what is bad.’^j May Yahweh your God be with you.” ¹⁸The king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not withhold from me a thing which I am about to ask you.” The woman said, “Please let my lord the king speak.” ¹⁹The king asked, “Was the hand of Joab with you in all of this?” The woman answered and said, “As your soul lives,^k my lord the king, surely one cannot go to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken. Yes, your servant Joab himself commanded me, and he put all of these words in the mouth of your servant. ²⁰In order to change the situation,^l your servant Joab did this thing. But my lord has wisdom, as the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all that is on the earth.” ²¹Then the king said to Joab, “Look, please, I will grant this thing. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.” ²²Joab fell with his face to the ground and did obeisance. And he blessed the king, and he^m said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.”

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

²³Then Joab got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴The king said, “Let him go over to his house, and he may not see my face.” So Absalom went over to his house, and did not see the face of the king. ²⁵As far as Absalom, there was not a more handsome man in all of Israel to admire so much; from the sole of his foot up to his crown, there was no physical defect on him. ²⁶When he shaved his head, it would happen every year,ⁿ which he did because it was heavy on him, he would shave it off and weigh the hair of his head: two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.^o ²⁷Three sons were born to Absalom and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman beautiful of appearance. ²⁸Absalom lived in Jerusalem two full years,^p but he did not see the face of the king. ²⁹So Absalom sent for Joab, in order that he send him to the king, but he was not willing to go to him. He sent again a second time, but he was not willing to go. ³⁰So he said to his servants, “Look at the tract of land of Joab next to mine,^q for he has barley plants there. Go, set it ablaze with fire.” So the servants of Absalom set the tract of land ablaze with fire. ³¹Then Joab got up and went to Absalom, to the house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my tract of land ablaze with fire?” ³²Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I have sent to you, saying, ‘Come here that I may send you to the king to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.” ’ So then, let me see the face of the king; if there is guilt in me, then let him kill me.” ³³So Joab went to the king and he told him. Then he summoned Absalom, and he came to the king, and he bowed down to him with his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed Absalom.

Absalom Leads a Rebellion

15It happened afterward that Absalom made himself a chariot with horses and fifty men running before him. ²Absalom used to rise early in the morning, and he stood beside^a the road at the gate; anyone^b who had a legal dispute to bring to the king for judgment Absalom would call to him and say, “Where are you from?”^c And he would say, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” ³Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your case is good and right, but for you there is no hearing with the king.” ⁴Then Absalom would say, “Oh, that someone would^d appoint me as judge in the land, that anyone^e might come to me who had a legal dispute or a case, and I would give him justice.” ⁵It happened whenever anyone drew near to do obeisance to him, that he would stretch his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. ⁶Absalom did like this to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts^f of the people of Israel.

⁷It happened at the end of four^g years that Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow which I have made to Yahweh in Hebron, ⁸for your servant made a vow while I was staying in Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If Yahweh will indeed let me return^h to Jerusalem, then I will worship Yahweh.’ ” ⁹Then the king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he got up and went to Hebron. ¹⁰Then Absalom sent scouts throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “When you hear the sound of the trumpet, you shall shout ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’ ” ¹¹Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom as invited guests, going in their innocence as they did not know anything. ¹²Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the advisor of David, from his city Giloh, while he offered the sacrifices. The conspiracy grew in strength,ⁱ and the people were going and increasing^j with Absalom.

David Flees from Jerusalem

¹³Then the messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts^k of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” ¹⁴Then David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Get up and let us flee, for there will be no escape for us from Absalom! Hurry to go, otherwise he will come quickly and overtake us! And he will bring disaster on us and evil! He will attack the city with the edge of the sword!” ¹⁵Then the servants of the king said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king chooses, your servants are ready to act!”^l ¹⁶The king went out with^m all his household following him,ⁿ but the king left behind ten concubines to look after the house. ¹⁷So the king went out with^o all the people following him,^p and they stopped at the last house.^q ¹⁸All his servants were passing by him:^r all of the Kerethites and all of the Pelethites and all of the Gittites—six hundred men who had followed him^s from Gath—passing before the king.^t ¹⁹The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also coming with us? Return and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner; moreover, you are an exile. You are far from your place.^u ²⁰Yesterday when you came and today,^v I have caused you to wander by going with us. Now I am going to where I am going; return and let your brothers return. May loyal love and faithfulness be with you.” ²¹But Ittai answered the king and said, “As Yahweh lives^w and my lord the king lives,^x surely in the place wherever my lord the king shall be, if for death or if for life, surely there your servant will be.” ²²Then David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” So Ittai the Gittite passed over and all his men and all of the little children who were with him. ²³All of the land was weeping with a loud voice as all the people were passing by and the king was crossing through the Wadi Kidron, and all the people were passing on the road to the wilderness.^y

The Priests Offer Sacrifices for David

²⁴Suddenly Zadok was there, and all of the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set the ark of God down, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people passed out of the city. ²⁵The king said to Zadok, “Let the ark of God return to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will let me return and let me see him in his dwelling place. ²⁶But if he says, ‘I take no pleasure in you,’ then I am ready.^z Let him do to me that which is good in his eyes. ²⁷Then the…

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Footnotes

aLiterally “many days”
bLiterally “What is for you”
cLiterally “to save between them”
dHebrew “and”
eLiterally “from making numerous the avenger of blood to kill”
fLiterally “The life of Yahweh”
gLiterally “dying we must die”
hHebrew “do/make”
iLiterally “become a rest”
jLiterally “to hear the good and the bad”
kLiterally “The life of your soul”
lLiterally “to turn the face of the thing”
mHebrew “Joab”
nLiterally “from the end of days for the days”
oLiterally “by the stone of the king”
pLiterally “two years of days”
qLiterally “toward my hand”
aLiterally “on hand of”
bLiterally “every man”
cLiterally “Where from this city are you?”
dLiterally “Who will …?”
eLiterally “every man”
fHebrew “heart”
gSo LXX, followed by Syriac and Vulgate; MT has “forty”
hLiterally (following Qere) “If returning Yahweh will return me”
iLiterally “became strong”
jLiterally “many”
kHebrew “heart”
lLiterally “here are your servants”
mHebrew “and”
nLiterally “at his feet”
oHebrew “and”
pLiterally “at his feet”
qLiterally “at the house of the distance”
rLiterally “on his hand”
sLiterally “who had come at his feet”
tLiterally “on the face of the king”
uLiterally “You as far as your place”
vLiterally “the day”
wLiterally “The life of Yahweh”
xLiterally “the life of my lord the king”
yLiterally “on the face of the road with the wilderness”
zLiterally “here I am”