2 Samuel 14:1-7

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

1 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart longed for Absalom.
2 So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don’t use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead.
3 Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 When the woman from Tekoa went[a] to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, “Help me, Your Majesty!”
5 The king asked her, “What is troubling you?” She said, “I am a widow; my husband is dead.
6 I your servant had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him.
7 Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant; they say, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother down, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed; then we will get rid of the heir as well.’ They would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.”

Cross References 8

  • 1. S 2 Samuel 2:18
  • 2. 2 Chronicles 11:6; Nehemiah 3:5; Jeremiah 6:1; Amos 1:1
  • 3. 2 Samuel 20:16
  • 4. S Ruth 3:3; 2 Samuel 12:20; S Isaiah 1:6
  • 5. ver 19
  • 6. Numbers 35:19
  • 7. Matthew 21:38
  • 8. Deuteronomy 19:10-13

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts "spoke"
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