13
And 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.
14
We 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 devises means not to keep his banished one an outcast.
15
Now 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.
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 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!"
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 Jo'ab 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 Jo'ab who bade me; it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid.
20
In order to change the course of affairs your servant Jo'ab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth."
21
Then the king said to Jo'ab, "Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Ab'salom."
22
And Jo'ab fell on his face to the ground, and did obeisance, and blessed the king; and Jo'ab 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."
23
So Jo'ab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Ab'salom to Jerusalem.