Joab Arranges for Absalom's Return

¹Joab knew that King David missed Absalom very much,

²so he sent for a clever woman who lived in Tekoa. When she arrived, he said to her, “Pretend that you are in mourning; put on your mourning clothes, and don't comb your hair. Act like a woman who has been in mourning for a long time.

³Then go to the king and say to him what I tell you to say.” Then Joab told her what to say.

⁴The woman went to the king, bowed down to the ground in respect, and said, “Help me, Your Majesty!”

⁵“What do you want?” he asked her. “I am a poor widow, sir,” she answered. “My husband is dead.

⁶Sir, I had two sons, and one day they got into a quarrel out in the fields, where there was no one to separate them, and one of them killed the other.

⁷And now, sir, all my relatives have turned against me and are demanding that I hand my son over to them, so that they can kill him for murdering his brother. If they do this, I will be left without a son. They will destroy my last hope and leave my husband without a son to keep his name alive.”

⁸“Go back home,” the king answered, “and I will take care of the matter.”

⁹“Your Majesty,” she said, “whatever you do, my family and I will take the blame; you and the royal family are innocent.”

¹⁰The king replied, “If anyone threatens you, bring him to me, and he will never bother you again.”

¹¹She said, “Your Majesty, please pray to the Lord your God, so that my relative who is responsible for avenging the death of my son will not commit a greater crime by killing my other son.” “I promise by the living Lord,” David replied, “that your son will not be harmed in the least.”

¹²“Please, Your Majesty, let me say just one more thing,” the woman said. “All right,” he answered.

¹³She said to him, “Why have you done such a wrong to God's people? You have not allowed your own son to return from exile, and so you have condemned yourself by what you have just said.

¹⁴We will all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which can't be gathered again. Even God does not bring the dead back to life, but the king can at least find a way to bring a man back from exile.

¹⁵Now, Your Majesty, the reason I have come to speak to you is that the people threatened me, and so I said to myself that I would speak to you in the hope that you would do what I ask.

¹⁶I thought you would listen to me and save me from the one who is trying to kill my son and me and so remove us from the land God gave his people.

¹⁷I said to myself that your promise, sir, would make me safe, because the king is like God's angel and can distinguish good from evil. May the Lord your God be with you!”

¹⁸The king answered, “I'm going to ask you a question, and you must tell me the whole truth.” “Ask me anything, Your Majesty,” she answered.

¹⁹“Did Joab put you up to this?” he asked her. She answered, “I swear by all that is sacred, Your Majesty, that there is no way to avoid answering your question. It was indeed your officer Joab who told me what to do and what to say.

²⁰But he did it in order to straighten out this whole matter. Your Majesty is as wise as the angel of God and knows everything that happens.”

²¹Later on the king said to Joab, “I have decided to do what you want. Go and get the young man Absalom and bring him back here.”

²²Joab threw himself to the ground in front of David in respect, and said, “God bless you, Your Majesty! Now I know that you are pleased with me, because you have granted my request.”

²³Then he got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.

²⁴The king, however, gave orders that Absalom should not live in the palace. “I don't want to see him,” the king said. So Absalom lived in his own house and did not appear before the king.

Absalom Is Reconciled to David

²⁵There was no one in Israel as famous for his good looks as Absalom; he had no defect from head to toe.

²⁶His hair was very thick, and he had to cut it once a year, when it grew too long and heavy. It would weigh about five pounds according to the royal standard of weights.

²⁷Absalom had three sons and one daughter named Tamar, a very beautiful woman.

²⁸Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king.

²⁹Then he sent for Joab, to ask him to go to the king for him; but Joab would not come. Again Absalom sent for him, and again Joab refused to come.

³⁰So Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and it has barley growing in it. Go and set fire to it.” So they went and set the field on fire.

³¹Joab went to Absalom's house and demanded, “Why did your servants set fire to my field?”

³²Absalom answered, “Because you wouldn't come when I sent for you. I wanted you to go to the king and ask for me: ‘Why did I leave Geshur and come here? It would have been better for me to have stayed there.’” And Absalom went on, “I want you to arrange for me to see the king, and if I'm guilty, then let him put me to death.”

³³So Joab went to King David and told him what Absalom had said. The king sent for Absalom, who went to him and bowed down to the ground in front of him. The king welcomed him with a kiss.

David's Military Victories

¹Some time later King David attacked the Philistines again and defeated them. He took out of their control the city of Gath and its surrounding villages.

²He also defeated the Moabites, who became his subjects and paid taxes to him.

³Next, David attacked King Hadadezer of the Syrian state of Zobah, near the territory of Hamath, because Hadadezer was trying to gain control of the territory by the upper Euphrates River.

⁴David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand cavalry troops, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He kept enough horses for a hundred chariots and crippled all the rest.

⁵When the Syrians of Damascus sent an army to help King Hadadezer, David attacked it and killed twenty-two thousand men.

⁶Then he set up military camps in their territory, and they became his subjects and paid taxes to him. The Lord made David victorious everywhere.

⁷David captured the gold shields carried by Hadadezer's officials and took them to Jerusalem.

⁸He also took a great quantity of bronze from Tibhath and Kun, cities ruled by Hadadezer. (Solomon later used this bronze to make the tank, the columns, and the bronze utensils for the Temple.)

⁹King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated Hadadezer's entire army.

¹⁰So he sent his son Joram to greet King David and congratulate him for his victory over Hadadezer, against whom Toi had fought many times. Joram brought David presents made of gold, silver, and bronze.

¹¹King David dedicated them for use in worship, along with the silver and gold he took from the nations he conquered—Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek.

¹²Abishai, whose mother was Zeruiah, defeated the Edomites in Salt Valley and killed eighteen thousand of them.

¹³He set up military camps throughout Edom, and the people there became King David's subjects. The Lord made David victorious everywhere.

¹⁴David ruled over all Israel and made sure that his people were always treated fairly and justly.

¹⁵Abishai's brother Joab was commander of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records;

¹⁶Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was court secretary;

¹⁷Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of David's bodyguards; and King David's sons held high positions in his service.

Human Wickedness

¹Fools say to themselves, “There is no God!” They are all corrupt, and they have done terrible things; there is no one who does what is right.

²The Lord looks down from heaven at us humans to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him.

³But they have all gone wrong; they are all equally bad. Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.

⁴“Don't they know?” asks the Lord. “Are all these evildoers ignorant? They live by robbing my people, and they never pray to me.”

⁵But then they will be terrified, for God is with those who obey him.

⁶Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble, but the Lord is their protection.

⁷How I pray that victory will come to Israel from Zion. How happy the people of Israel will be when the Lord makes them prosperous again!