2 Samuel 14:18

18 The king answered the woman, "I must ask you something—don't hide anything from me!" The woman said, "Please, my master and 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 because the king will agree to deliver his servant from the power of anyone who would destroy both me and my son from the inheritance God gave.

17 Your servant thought, The word of my master the king will definitely comfort me, because my master the king is like one of God's messengers, understanding good and evil. May the LORD your God be with you!"

18 The king answered the woman, "I must ask you something—don't hide anything from me!" The woman said, "Please, my master and king, speak."

19 So the king said, "Has Joab put you up to this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my master and king, no one can deviate a bit from whatever my master and king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who directed me, and it was Joab who told your female servant to say all these things.

20 Your servant Joab did this to change the way things look. But my master's wisdom is like the wisdom of one of God's own messengers—he knows everything that takes place in the land."

Footnotes

• [a]. 14:18 may have originally followed 14:14.