2 Samuel 14:18

18 Then the king answered the woman, "Do not hide from me anything I ask you." And the woman said, "Let my lord the king speak."

2 Samuel 14:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 14:18

Then the king answered and said unto the woman
Understanding plainly what she meant by all this, that the case she brought was a feigned one, and that the intention of it was to let him know the sense of the people with respect to Absalom, and the recall of him:

hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee;
he suspected that this was not a scheme of her own, but some considerable person had formed it, and made use of her to execute it, which was what he desired to know:

and the woman said, let my lord the king now speak;
ask what question he pleases, I am ready to answer.

2 Samuel 14:18 In-Context

16 For 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.'

17 And your servant 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!"

18 Then the king answered the woman, "Do not hide from me anything I ask you." And the woman said, "Let my lord the king speak."

19 The 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 commanded me; it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant.

20 In order to change the course of things 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."