1
So Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was concerned about Absalom.
2
And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel; do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead.
3
Go to the king and speak to him in this manner." So Joab put the words in her mouth.
4
And when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself, and said, "Help, O king!"
5
Then the king said to her, "What troubles you?" And she answered, "Indeed I am a widow, my husband is dead.
6
Now your maidservant had two sons; and the two fought with each other in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other and killed him.
7
And now the whole family has risen up against your maidservant, and they said, 'Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may execute him for the life of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also.' So they would extinguish my ember that is left, and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the earth."
8
Then the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you."
9
And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord, O king, let the iniquity be on me and on my father's house, and the king and his throne be guiltless."