14 SHEMU'EL -2- SAMUEL 14

Joab Procures Absalom's Recall

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:1

  1     ^¶  Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:2

  2    And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said to her, I pray you, feign yourself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not yourself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:3

  3    And come to the king, and speak on this manner to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.

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  4    And when the woman of Tekoah spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king.

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  5    And the king said to her, What ails you? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and my husband is dead.

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  6    And your handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and [there was] none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:7

  7    And, behold, the whole family is risen against your handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband [neither] name nor remainder upon the earth.

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  8    And the king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give charge concerning you.

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  9    And the woman of Tekoah said to the king, My master, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be guiltless.

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  10    And the king said, Whosoever saith [ought] to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you any more.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:11

  11    Then said she, I pray you, let the king remember YAHWEH your ABBA, that you would not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As YAHWEH lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:12

  12    Then the woman said, Let your handmaid, I pray you, speak one word to my master the king. And he said, Say on.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:13

  13    And the woman said, Wherefore then have you thought such a thing against the people of YAHWEH? for the king does speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king does not fetch home again his banished.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:14

  14    For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither does YAHWEH respect any person: yet does he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:15

  15    Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing to my master the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your handmaid said, I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:16

  16    For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man [that would] destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of YAHWEH.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:17

  17    Then your handmaid said, The word of my master the king shall now be comfortable: for as an malak of YAHWEH, so is my master the king to discern good and evil: therefore YAHWEH your ABBA will be with you.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:18

  18    Then the king answered and said to the woman, Hide not from me, I pray you, the thing that I shall ask you. And the woman said, Let my master the king now speak.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:19

  19    And the king said, [Is not] the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my master the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my master the king has spoken: for your servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid:

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:20

  20    To fetch about this form of speech has your servant Joab done this thing: and my master is wise, according to the wisdom of an malak of YAHWEH, to know all things that are in the earth.

Absalom Recalled

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:21

  21     ^¶  And the king said to Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:22

  22    And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my master, O king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:23

  23    So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Yerusalem.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:24

  24    And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king's face.

His Personal Beauty

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:25

  25    But in all Yisrael there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:26

  26    And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled it: because [the hair] was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:27

  27    And to Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.

He Is Admitted To His Father's Presence

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:28

  28     ^¶  So Absalom dwelt two full years in Yerusalem, and saw not the king's face.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:29

  29    Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come.

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  30    Therefore he said to his servants, See, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom's servants set the field on fire.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:31

  31    Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, Wherefore has your servants set my field on fire?

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:32

  32    And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come hither, that I may send you to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? [it had been] good for me [to have been] there still: now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.

2 SHEMU'EL - 2 SAMUEL 14:33

  33    So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.