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b'2 Samuel 14 (ESV)
\\n14\\xa0Now Joab the son of Zeruiah knew that the king\\u2019s heart went out to Absalom. 2\\xa0And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, \\u201cPretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. 3\\xa0Go to the king and speak thus to him.\\u201d So Joab put the words in her mouth.
\\n4\\xa0When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and paid homage and said, \\u201cSave me, O king.\\u201d 5\\xa0And the king said to her, \\u201cWhat is your trouble?\\u201d She answered, \\u201cAlas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. 6\\xa0And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. 7\\xa0And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, \\u2018Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.\\u2019 And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.\\u201d
\\n8\\xa0Then the king said to the woman, \\u201cGo to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.\\u201d 9\\xa0And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, \\u201cOn me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father\\u2019s house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.\\u201d 10\\xa0The king said, \\u201cIf anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.\\u201d 11\\xa0Then she said, \\u201cPlease let the king invoke the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed.\\u201d He said, \\u201cAs the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.\\u201d
\\n12\\xa0Then the woman said, \\u201cPlease let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.\\u201d He said, \\u201cSpeak.\\u201d 13\\xa0And the woman said, \\u201cWhy then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring his banished one home again. 14\\xa0We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. 15\\xa0Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid, and your servant thought, \\u2018I will speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. 16\\xa0For the king will hear and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the heritage of God.\\u2019 17\\xa0And your servant thought, \\u2018The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,\\u2019 for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!\\u201d
\\n18\\xa0Then the king answered the woman, \\u201cDo not hide from me anything I ask you.\\u201d And the woman said, \\u201cLet my lord the king speak.\\u201d 19\\xa0The king said, \\u201cIs the hand of Joab with you in all this?\\u201d The woman answered and said, \\u201cAs surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who commanded me; it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant. 20\\xa0In order to change the course of things your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.\\u201d
\\n21\\xa0Then the king said to Joab, \\u201cBehold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.\\u201d 22\\xa0And Joab fell on his face to the ground and paid homage and blessed the king. And Joab said, \\u201cToday your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.\\u201d 23\\xa0So Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24\\xa0And the king said,'