¹Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the heart of the king was toward Absalom.

²Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and said to her, Mourn, please, and put on, please, garments of mourning, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for these many days over one who is dead.

³You shall come to the king and speak to him according to this word. And Joab put the words in her mouth.

⁴The Tekoite woman said to the king, and she fell on her face to the land and bowed down, and said, Save, O king.

⁵The king said to her, What is the matter with you? She said, Indeed, I am a woman, a widow, and my husband has died.

⁶Your female slave had two sons, and the two of them quarreled in the field, and there was no deliverer between them; the one struck the other and put him to death.

⁷And look, the whole clan has risen against your female slave, and they said, Give up the one who struck down his brother, so we may put him to death for the being of his brother whom he killed, and we will wipe out even the heir. They would quench my ember that is left, so as not to put a name or a remnant for my husband on the face of the ground.

⁸The king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will command concerning you.

⁹The Tekoite woman said to the king, On me, my lord the king, be the guilt, and on the house of my father; the king and his throne are clear.

¹⁰The king said, Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will never again touch you.

¹¹She said, Please let the king remember Yahweh your God, that the avenger of blood not multiply destruction, and they not wipe out my son. He said, As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the land.

¹²The woman said, Please let your female slave speak a word to my lord the king. He said, Speak.

¹³The woman said, Why have you reckoned something like this against the people of God? And since the king speaks this word, he is like a guilty one, in that the king does not bring back his banished one.

¹⁴For we will surely die, and are like waters spilled onto the land that cannot be gathered up; and God does not take away a being, but devises plans so that a banished one is not banished from him.

¹⁵And now, the reason I have come to speak this word to the king my lord is that the people have made me afraid; and your female slave said, Let me speak please to the king; perhaps the king will do the word of his female servant.

¹⁶For the king will hear, to deliver his female servant from the palm of the man who would wipe out me and my son together from the inheritance of God.

¹⁷Your female slave said, Please let the word of my lord the king be for rest, for like the messenger of God, so is my lord the king in hearing the good and the evil; and may Yahweh your God be with you.

¹⁸The king answered and said to the woman, Please do not hide from me any word that I am asking you. The woman said, Please let my lord the king speak.

¹⁹The king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? The woman answered and said, As your being lives, my lord the king, no one can turn right or left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for your slave Joab, he commanded me, and he put in the mouth of your female slave all these words.

²⁰In order to change the face of the word, your slave Joab did this word; but my lord is wise, like the wisdom of the messenger of God, to know all that is in the land.

²¹The king said to Joab, Look now, I have done this word; go, bring back the youth Absalom.

²²Joab fell on his face to the land and bowed down and blessed the king; and Joab said, Today your slave knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, since the king has done the word of your slave.

²³Joab rose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

²⁴The king said, Let him turn to his house, and my face he shall not see. So Absalom turned to his house, and the face of the king he did not see.

²⁵And as for Absalom, there was no man in all Israel so beautiful, so greatly to be praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

²⁶When he shaved his head — and it happened at the end of each span of days when he would shave it, because it was heavy on him — he shaved it, and he weighed the hair of his head: two hundred shekels by the king's stone.

²⁷Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter whose name was Tamar; she was a woman beautiful in appearance.

²⁸Absalom dwelt in Jerusalem two full years, and the face of the king he did not see.

²⁹Absalom sent to Joab, to send him to the king, but he was not willing to come to him; and he sent again a second time, but he was not willing to come.

³⁰He said to his slaves, See, the portion of Joab is at my hand, and he has barley there; go and kindle it with fire. And the slaves of Absalom kindled the portion with fire.

³¹Joab rose and came to Absalom at the house and said to him, Why have your slaves kindled the portion that is mine with fire?

³²Absalom said to Joab, Look, I sent to you, saying, Come here, that I may send you to the king to say, Why have I come from Geshur? It would be good for me if I were still there. So now let me see the face of the king; and if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death.

³³Joab came to the king and told him, and he summoned Absalom; and he came to the king and bowed down to him on his face to the land, before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.