Absalom’s Return to Jerusalem 1 UEB Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart desired to see Absalom. BSB BSB: Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart longed for Absalom.
2 UEB So Joab sent word to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought to him. He said to her, "Please pretend you are a mourner and put on mourning clothes. Please do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead. BSB BSB: So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.
3 UEB Then go to the king and speak to him about what I will describe." So Joab told her the words she was to say to the king. BSB BSB: Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 UEB When the woman from Tekoa spoke to the king, she lay facedown on the ground and said, "Help me, king." BSB BSB: When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”
5 UEB The king said to her, "What is wrong?" She answered, "The truth is that I am a widow, and my husband is dead. BSB BSB: “What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.
6 UEB I, your servant, had two sons, and they fought together in the field, and there was no one to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. BSB BSB: And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.
7 UEB Now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, 'Give into our hand the man who struck his brother, so that we may put him to death, to pay for the life of his brother whom he killed.' So they would also destroy the heir. Thus they will put out the burning coal that I have left, and they will leave for my husband neither name nor descendant on the surface of the earth." BSB BSB: Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”
8 UEB So the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will command something to be done for you." BSB BSB: “Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”
9 UEB The woman of Tekoa replied to the king, "My master, king, may the guilt be on me and on my father's family. The king and his throne are guiltless." BSB BSB: But the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me and on my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”
10 UEB The king replied, "Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore." BSB BSB: “If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”
11 UEB Then she said, "Please, may the king call to mind Yahweh your God, so that the avenger of blood will not destroy anyone further, so that they will not destroy my son." The king replied, "As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the ground." BSB BSB: “Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
12 UEB Then the woman said, "Please let your servant speak a further word to my master the king." He said, "Speak on." BSB BSB: Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” “Speak,” he replied.
13 UEB So the woman said, "Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in saying this thing, the king is like someone who is guilty, because the king has not brought back home again his banished son. BSB BSB: The woman asked, “Why have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, since he has not brought back his own banished son?
14 UEB For we all must die, and we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life; instead, he finds a way for those who were driven away to be restored. BSB BSB: For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
15 UEB Now then, seeing that I have come to speak this thing to my master the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. So your servant said to herself, 'I will now speak to the king. It may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. BSB BSB: Now therefore, I have come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the request of his maidservant.
16 UEB Perhaps the king will listen to me and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together, out of the inheritance God gave us.' BSB BSB: For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would cut off both me and my son from God’s inheritance.’
17 UEB Then your servant prayed, 'Yahweh, please let the word of my master the king give me relief, for as an angel of God, so is my master the king in telling good from evil.' May Yahweh your God be with you." BSB BSB: And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you.’”
18 UEB Then the king answered and said to the woman, "Please do not hide from me anything that I will ask you." The woman replied, "Let my master the king now speak." BSB BSB: Then the king said to the woman, “I am going to ask you something; do not conceal it from me!” “Let my lord the king speak,” she replied.
19 UEB The king said, "Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this?" The woman answered and said, "As you live, my master the king, no one can escape to the right hand or to the left from anything that my master the king has spoken. It was your servant Joab who commanded me and told me to say these things that your servant has spoken. BSB BSB: So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.
20 UEB Your servant Joab has done this to change the course of what is happening. My master is wise, like the wisdom of an angel of God, and he knows everything that is happening in the land." BSB BSB: Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”
21 UEB So the king said to Joab, "Look now, I will do this thing. Go then, and bring the young man Absalom back." BSB BSB: Then the king said to Joab, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 UEB So Joab lay facedown on the ground in honor and gratitude to the king. Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my master, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant." BSB BSB: Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”
23 UEB So Joab arose, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. BSB BSB: So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 UEB The king said, "He may return to his own house, but he may not see my face." So Absalom returned to his own house, but did not see the king's face. BSB BSB: But the king added, “He may return to his house, but he must not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the face of the king.
25 UEB Now in all Israel there was no one praised for his handsomeness more than Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head there was no blemish in him. BSB BSB: Now there was not a man in all Israel as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw.
26 UEB When he cut the hair of his head at the end of every year, because it was heavy on him, he weighed his hair; it would weigh about two hundred shekels, which is measured by the weight of the king's standard. BSB BSB: And when he cut the hair of his head—he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy—he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.
27 UEB To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman. BSB BSB: Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.
Absalom Reconciled to David 28 UEB Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, without seeing the king's face. BSB BSB: Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king.
29 UEB Then Absalom sent word for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. So Absalom sent word a second time, but Joab still did not come. BSB BSB: Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So Absalom sent a second time, but Joab still would not come.
30 UEB So Absalom said to his servants, "See, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. BSB BSB: Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
31 UEB Then Joab arose and came to Absalom at his house, and said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?" BSB BSB: Then Joab came to Absalom’s house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 UEB Absalom answered Joab, "Look, I sent word to you saying, 'Come here so I may send you to the king to say, "Why did I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to still be there. Now therefore let me see the king's face, and if I am guilty, let him kill me."'" BSB BSB: “Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”
33 UEB So Joab went to the king and told him. When the king called for Absalom, he came to the king and bowed low to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom. BSB BSB: So Joab went and told the king, and David summoned Absalom, who came to him and bowed facedown before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.
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