2 Samuel 14:1-33, NLT
2 Samuel 14
Joab Arranges for Absalom’s Return
1Joab realized how much the king longed to see Absalom.
4When the woman from Tekoa approached*14:4 As in many Hebrew manuscripts and Greek and Syriac versions; Masoretic Text reads spoke to. the king, she bowed with her face to the ground in deep respect and cried out, “O king! Help me!”
5“What’s the trouble?” the king asked.
“Alas, I am a widow!” she replied. “My husband is dead.
8“Leave it to me,” the king told her. “Go home, and I’ll see to it that no one touches him.”
9“Oh, thank you, my lord the king,” the woman from Tekoa replied. “If you are criticized for helping me, let the blame fall on me and on my father’s house, and let the king and his throne be innocent.”
10“If anyone objects,” the king said, “bring him to me. I can assure you he will never harm you again!”
11Then she said, “Please swear to me by the Lord your God that you won’t let anyone take vengeance against my son. I want no more bloodshed.”
“As surely as the Lord lives,” he replied, “not a hair on your son’s head will be disturbed!”
12“Please allow me to ask one more thing of my lord the king,” she said.
“Go ahead and speak,” he responded.
13She replied, “Why don’t you do as much for the people of God as you have promised to do for me? You have convicted yourself in making this decision, because you have refused to bring home your own banished son.
15“I have come to plead with my lord the king because people have threatened me. I said to myself, ‘Perhaps the king will listen to me
18“I must know one thing,” the king replied, “and tell me the truth.”
“Yes, my lord the king,” she responded.
19“Did Joab put you up to this?”
And the woman replied, “My lord the king, how can I deny it? Nobody can hide anything from you. Yes, Joab sent me and told me what to say.
21So the king sent for Joab and told him, “All right, go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
22Joab bowed with his face to the ground in deep respect and said, “At last I know that I have gained your approval, my lord the king, for you have granted me this request!”
23Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
Absalom Reconciled to David
25Now Absalom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot.
28Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he never got to see the king.
31Then Joab came to Absalom at his house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32And Absalom replied, “Because I wanted you to ask the king why he brought me back from Geshur if he didn’t intend to see me. I might as well have stayed there. Let me see the king; if he finds me guilty of anything, then let him kill me.”
33So Joab told the king what Absalom had said. Then at last David summoned Absalom, who came and bowed low before the king, and the king kissed him.