Absalom’s Return to Jerusalem 1 UST But Joab recognized that the king was still angry with Absalom. BSB BSB: Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart longed for Absalom.
2 UST So Joab sent someone to the city of Tekoa to bring to him a woman who was very clever. When she arrived, Joab said to her,“I want you to look very sad, as if you are grieving because someone you love has died. Put on the clothes that people wear who are mourning. Do not put any olive oil on your hair or skin. Act as if you are a woman who has been mourning for a long time for someone who has died. 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 UST Then go to King David and tell him what I tell you to say.” Then Joab told her what to say. BSB BSB: Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 UST So the woman who was from Tekoa went to the king. She got down and lay flat out in front of him to honor him, and then she cried out,“Your Majesty, please help me!” BSB BSB: When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”
5 UST The king replied,“What is your problem?” She replied,“Sadly I am a widow. My husband died some time ago. BSB BSB: “What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.
6 UST I had two sons. But one day they quarreled with each other while they were working out in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one of them hit the other one so hard that he 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 UST Now, all of my extended family has come to me and insisted that I surrender to them my son who is still alive. They want to kill him to punish him for killing his brother. But if they do that, I will not have any son to inherit my late husband’ s land{ and the family will take it}. My son is the only relative I have left. If they kill him, my husband will have no living descendants to preserve our family’ s name.” 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 UST Then the king said to the woman,“I will forbid anyone to punish your surviving son by killing him. So you may go back home{ without appealing any further}.” BSB BSB: “Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”
9 UST The woman from Tekoa replied to the king,“Your Majesty,{ let me reassure you that} if my son actually is guilty of murder and deserves to die, then I will accept the blame and expect Yahweh to punish me and my family. May Yahweh not punish you or the kingdom of Israel because you have said that no one should kill my surviving son.” 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 UST The king said to her,“If anyone continues to demand that you surrender your surviving son for execution, bring that person to me. I will make sure that he never causes you trouble again.” BSB BSB: “If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”
11 UST Then the woman said,“Your Majesty, please swear by Yahweh your God that you will do this. That way the relative who would be responsible to kill my son if he had actually murdered his brother will not kill him and cause someone further to die in my family.” David replied,“I swear by Yahweh that I will not allow anyone to hurt your son at all.” 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 UST Then the woman said,“Your Majesty, please allow me to say one more thing to you.” He replied,“Speak!” BSB BSB: Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” “Speak,” he replied.
13 UST The woman said,“You have been acting badly toward God’ s people. Based on the judgment you have just given, you have been doing the wrong thing.{ Since you take circumstances into account when judging cases of manslaughter,} you should allow your son Absalom{, our crown prince,} to return home. 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 UST Consider that all of us are going to die. Like water that no one can pick up from the ground once someone has spilled it, death is permanent{ so you should reconcile with Absalom while you are both still alive}. And it is not God who makes people die{ even to punish them when they have done wrong things}. Instead, God forgives people who have sinned against him so that they can once more be in a good relationship with him. 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 UST I came to appeal to you, Your Majesty, because I was very afraid that the members of my extended family would kill my son. I said to myself,‘I will go and talk to the king, and maybe he will do what I ask him to do. 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 UST Perhaps he will listen to me and save my son from the man who is trying to kill him. If that man kills my son, I might die too{ without his support}. Then we would both no longer be a part of the Israelite community.’ 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 UST And I decided,‘What the king says will comfort me, because he is like an angel of God. He knows how to determine what is right and what is wrong.’ I pray that Yahweh your God will help 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 UST In response King David told the woman,“I am going to ask you about something, and I want you to tell me the whole truth about it.” The woman replied,“Go ahead and ask, Your Majesty{, and I will answer truthfully}.” 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 UST The king said,“Did Joab arrange for you to do all this?” She replied,“I swear by your life, Your Majesty, that it is not possible to say otherwise than you have said! Yes, it was in fact Joab who told me to come here, and he was the one who told me what to say. 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 UST Joab did that to try to get you to feel differently about this matter. But Your Majesty, you seem to be as wise as one of God’ s angels. You know what is happening throughout your kingdom{, and that is how you knew that Joab sent me here}.” 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 UST Then King David had his servants bring Joab to him. David told Joab,“Listen! I have decided to do what you want. So you may go and get that young man Absalom and bring him back here to Jerusalem.” BSB BSB: Then the king said to Joab, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 UST Joab got down and lay flat out in front of David to honor him. Then he asked God to do good things for him. Then Joab said,“Your Majesty, now I know that you are pleased with me, since you have agreed to do what I asked.” 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 UST Then Joab did what David had said he could do. He went to Geshur and got Absalom and brought him back to Jerusalem. BSB BSB: So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 UST But King David had said that while Absalom could live in his own house again, he could not come and speak with him. So Absalom lived in his own house, but he did not go and speak with the king. 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 UST Now people throughout Israel praised Absalom for being a very handsome man. He did not seem to have any flaws in any part of his body. 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 UST Absalom wore his hair long and only cut it once a year when it became too heavy on his head. When he cut his hair, he would weigh it, and{ because it was so thick} it always weighed nearly a kilogram. 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 UST Absalom had three sons. He also had a daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a very 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 UST Even though Absalom had lived in Jerusalem for two entire years, David had still not allowed him to come and speak with him. BSB BSB: Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king.
29 UST So Absalom sent a messenger to ask Joab to come and speak with him. Absalom wanted to ask Joab to help him receive permission to speak with King David. But Joab refused to come and speak with Absalom. So Absalom sent another messenger to ask Joab to come and speak with him. But Joab still would 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 UST Then Absalom told his servants,“Here is what I want you to do. Joab owns a piece of land next to my land, and he has barley growing there. Go over and start a fire there to burn up the barley.” So Absalom’ s servants went over and started a fire, and it burned up all the barley. 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 UST Joab{ realized who must have started the fire, so he} went to Absalom’ s house and demanded to know,“Why did your servants burn up the barley that was growing on my piece of land?” BSB BSB: Then Joab came to Absalom’s house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 UST Absalom replied,“I had them do that because when I sent messengers to ask you to come and speak with me, you refused. I wanted you to go to the king and tell him on my behalf that it seemed useless for me to have come here from Geshur and that I thought it would have been better for me to stay there. Now please get the king to allow me to come and speak with him. Tell him that if he is keeping me away to punish me for doing something wrong, he can go ahead and execute 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 UST So Joab went to the king and told him what Absalom had said. Then the king sent messengers to bring Absalom to the royal court. Absalom came to the king and, to honor him, he knelt down in front of him with his face touching the ground. Then the king{ indicated that Absalom could get up, and he} kissed Absalom on the cheek to show that he was no longer hostile to him. 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.