2 Samuel 14–15

Chapter 14

¹Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart went out to Absalom. ²And Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched from there a wise woman, and said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments; do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead; ³and go to the king, and speak thus to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.

⁴When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, “Help, O king.” ⁵And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶And your handmaid had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field; there was no one to part them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷And now the whole family has risen against your handmaid, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew’; and so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant upon 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, “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 any one says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.” ¹¹Then she said, “Pray let the king invoke the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood slay no more, and my son be not destroyed.” He said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

¹²Then the woman said, “Pray let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” ¹³And the woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring his banished one home again. ¹⁴We must all die, we are like water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; but God will not take away the life of him who devisesⁱ means not to keep his banished one an outcast. ¹⁵Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid; and your handmaid thought, ‘I will speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. ¹⁶For the king will hear, and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the heritage of God.’ ¹⁷And your handmaid thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest’; for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!”

¹⁸Then the king answered the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” ¹⁹The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered and said, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who bade me; it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid. ²⁰In order to change the course of affairs your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.”

²¹Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.” ²²And Joab fell on his face to the ground, and did obeisance, and blessed the king; and Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.” ²³So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴And the king said, “Let him dwell apart in his own house; he is not to come into my presence.” So Absalom dwelt apart in his own house, and did not come into the king’s presence.

²⁵Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his beauty as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. ²⁶And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king’s weight. ²⁷There were born to Absalom three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar; she was a beautiful woman.

²⁸So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, without coming into the king’s presence. ²⁹Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; but Joab would not come to him. And he sent a second time, but Joab would not come. ³⁰Then he said to his servants, “See, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. ³¹Then Joab arose and went to Absalom at his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” ³²Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent word to you, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to ask, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.” Now therefore let me go into the presence of the king; and if there is guilt in me, let him kill me.’ ” ³³Then Joab went to the king, and told him; and he summoned Absalom. So he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.

Chapter 15

¹After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. ²And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate; and when any man had a suit to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him, and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” ³Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right; but there is no man deputed by the king to hear you.” ⁴Absalom said moreover, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” ⁵And whenever a man came near to do obeisance to him, he would put out his hand, and take hold of him, and kiss him. ⁶Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

⁷And at the end of four^j years Absalom said to the king, “Pray let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the Lord, in Hebron. ⁸For your servant vowed a vow while I dwelt at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to the Lord.’ ” ⁹The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose, and went to Hebron. ¹⁰But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, ‘Absalom is king at Hebron!’ ” ¹¹With Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem who were invited guests, and they went in their simplicity, and knew nothing. ¹²And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for^k Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.

¹³And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” ¹⁴Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee; or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom; go in haste, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.” ¹⁵And the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.” ¹⁶So the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten concubines to keep the house. ¹⁷And the king went forth, and all the people after him; and they halted at the last house. ¹⁸And all his servants passed by him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.

¹⁹Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Go back, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from^l your home. ²⁰You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, seeing I go I know not where? Go back, and take your brethren with you; and may the Lord show^m steadfast love and faithfulness to you.” ²¹But Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.” ²²And David said to Ittai, “Go then, pass on.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on, with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. ²³And all the country wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness.

²⁴And Abiathar came up, and lo, Zadok came also, with all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God, until the people had all passed out of the city. ²⁵Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his habitation; ²⁶but if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.” ²⁷The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Look,ⁿ go back to the city in peace, you and Abiathar,^o with your two sons, Ahima-az your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. ²⁸See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me.” ²⁹So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem; and they remained there.

³⁰But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered; and all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. ³¹And it was told…