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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>2 Samuel 14 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_samuel/14.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/2_samuel/14-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > 2 Samuel 14</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_samuel/13.htm" title="2 Samuel 13">◄</a> 2 Samuel 14 <a href="../2_samuel/15.htm" title="2 Samuel 15">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch10014" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn10014" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">The Wise Woman of Tekoa.</span> <span id="v10014001" class="ver">1</span>Now Joab, son of Zeruiah, knew how the king felt toward Absalom. <span id="v10014002" class="ver">2</span>Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, to whom he said: “Pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning apparel and do not anoint yourself with oil, that you may appear to be a woman who has long been mourning someone dead. <span id="v10014003" class="ver">3</span>Then go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” And Joab told her what to say.</p> <p><span id="v10014004" class="ver">4</span>So the woman of Tekoa went to the king and fell to the ground in homage, saying, “Help, O king!” <span id="v10014005" class="ver">5</span><a id="ren10014005-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en10014005-a">a</a> The king said to her, “What do you want?” She replied: “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. <span id="v10014006" class="ver">6</span>Your servant had two sons, who quarreled in the field, with no one to part them, and one of them struck his brother and killed him. <span id="v10014007" class="ver">7</span>Then the whole clan confronted your servant and demanded: ‘Give up the one who struck down his brother. We must put him to death for the life of his brother whom he has killed; we must do away with the heir also.’ Thus they will quench my remaining hope<a id="rfn10014007-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn10014007-1">*</a> and leave my husband neither name nor posterity upon the earth.”<a id="ren10014007-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en10014007-b">b</a> <span id="v10014008" class="ver">8</span>The king then said to the woman: “Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf.” <span id="v10014009" class="ver">9</span>The woman of Tekoa answered him, “Upon me and my family be the blame, my lord king; the king and his throne are innocent.” <span id="v10014010" class="ver">10</span>Then the king said, “If anyone says a word to you, have him brought to me, and he shall not touch you again.” <span id="v10014011" class="ver">11</span>But she said, “Please, let the king remember the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> your God, that the avenger of blood may not go too far in destruction and that my son may not be done away with.” He replied, “As the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> lives, not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”</p> <p><span id="v10014012" class="ver">12</span>But the woman continued, “Please let your servant say still another word to my lord the king.” He replied, “Speak.” <span id="v10014013" class="ver">13</span>So the woman said: “Why, then, do you think the way you do against the people of God? In pronouncing as he has, the king shows himself guilty, in not bringing back his own banished son. <span id="v10014014" class="ver">14</span>We must indeed die; we are then like water that is poured out on the ground and cannot be gathered up. Yet, though God does not bring back to life, he does devise means so as not to banish<a id="rfn10014014-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn10014014-1">*</a> anyone from him.<a id="ren10014014-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en10014014-c">c</a> <span id="v10014015" class="ver">15</span>And now, if I have presumed to speak to the king of this matter, it is because the people have given me cause to fear. And so your servant thought: ‘Let me speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the petition of his servant. <span id="v10014016" class="ver">16</span>For the king must surely listen and rescue his servant from the grasp of one who would destroy both me and my son from the heritage of God.’ <span id="v10014017" class="ver">17</span>And your servant says, ‘Let the word of my lord the king lead to rest;<a id="rfn10014017-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn10014017-1">*</a> indeed, my lord the king is like an angel of God, discerning good and evil. The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> your God be with you.’ ”<a id="ren10014017-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en10014017-d">d</a></p> <p><span id="v10014018" class="ver">18</span>The king answered the woman, “Now do not conceal from me anything I may ask you!” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” <span id="v10014019" class="ver">19</span>So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answered: “As you live, my lord the king, it is just as my lord has said, and not otherwise. It was your servant Joab who instructed me and told your servant all these things she was to say. <span id="v10014020" class="ver">20</span>Your servant Joab did this in order to approach the matter in a roundabout way. But my lord is wise with the wisdom of an angel of God, knowing all things on earth.”</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Absalom’s Return.</span> <span id="v10014021" class="ver">21</span>Then the king said to Joab: “I am granting this request. Go and bring back young Absalom.” <span id="v10014022" class="ver">22</span>Falling to the ground in homage and blessing the king, Joab said, “This day your servant knows that I am in good favor with you, my lord king, since the king has granted the request of your servant.” <span id="v10014023" class="ver">23</span>Joab then went off to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. <span id="v10014024" class="ver">24</span>But the king said, “Let him go off to his own house; he shall not appear before<a id="rfn10014024-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn10014024-1">*</a> me.” So Absalom went off to his house and did not appear before the king.</p> <p><span id="v10014025" class="ver">25</span>In all Israel there was no man more praised for his beauty than Absalom, flawless from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. <span id="v10014026" class="ver">26</span>When he shaved his head—as he used to do at the end of every year, because his hair became too heavy for him—the hair weighed two hundred shekels according to the royal standard. <span id="v10014027" class="ver">27</span>Absalom had three sons born to him, besides a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.<a id="ren10014027-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en10014027-e">e</a></p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Absalom Is Pardoned.</span> <span id="v10014028" class="ver">28</span>Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years without appearing before the king. <span id="v10014029" class="ver">29</span>Then he sent a message asking Joab to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. Although he asked him a second time, Joab would not come. <span id="v10014030" class="ver">30</span>He therefore instructed his servants: “You see Joab’s field that borders mine, where he has barley. Go, set it on fire.” And so Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.<a id="ren10014030-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en10014030-f">f</a> Joab’s farmhands came to him with torn garments and told him, “Absalom’s servants set your field on fire.” <span id="v10014031" class="ver">31</span>Joab went to Absalom in his house and asked him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” <span id="v10014032" class="ver">32</span>Absalom answered Joab: “I sent you a message: Come here, that I may send you to the king to say: ‘Why did I come back from Geshur? I would be better off if I were still there!’ Now, let me appear before the king. If I am guilty, let him put me to death.” <span id="v10014033" class="ver">33</span>Joab went to the king and reported this. The king then called Absalom; he came to him and in homage fell on his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed Absalom.</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../2_samuel/13.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="2 Samuel 13"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="2 Samuel 13" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../2_samuel/15.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="2 Samuel 15"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="2 Samuel 15" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>