5
"What do you want?" he asked her. "I am a poor widow, sir," she answered. "My husband is dead.
6
Sir, 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.
7
And 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."
10
The king replied, "If anyone threatens you, bring him to me, and he will never bother you again."
11
She 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."
12
"Please, Your Majesty, let me say just one more thing," the woman said. "All right," he answered.
13
She said to him, "Why have you done such a wrong to God's people? You have not allowed your own son to return from exile, and so you have condemned yourself by what you have just said.
14
We will all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which can't be gathered again. Even God does not bring the dead back to life, but the king can at least find a way to bring a man back from exile.
15
Now, Your Majesty, the reason I have come to speak to you is that the people threatened me, and so I said to myself that I would speak to you in the hope that you would do what I ask.