2 Samuel 14

About 2 Samuel 2 Samuel covers King David's reign, his successes and failures, and God's promise of a lasting dynasty.

Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.Selected2 Samuel 14:1Ask

And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:Selected2 Samuel 14:2Ask

And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.Selected2 Samuel 14:3Ask

And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king.Selected2 Samuel 14:4Ask

And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.Selected2 Samuel 14:5Ask

And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him.Selected2 Samuel 14:6Ask

And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.Selected2 Samuel 14:7Ask

And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee.Selected2 Samuel 14:8Ask

And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house: and the king and his throne be guiltless.Selected2 Samuel 14:9Ask

And the king said, Whosoever saith ought unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.Selected2 Samuel 14:10Ask

Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.Selected2 Samuel 14:11Ask

Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.Selected2 Samuel 14:12Ask

And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished.Selected2 Samuel 14:13Ask

For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.Selected2 Samuel 14:14Ask

Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.Selected2 Samuel 14:15Ask

For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.Selected2 Samuel 14:16Ask

Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.Selected2 Samuel 14:17Ask

Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.Selected2 Samuel 14:18Ask

And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:Selected2 Samuel 14:19Ask

To fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.Selected2 Samuel 14:20Ask

And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again.Selected2 Samuel 14:21Ask

And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.Selected2 Samuel 14:22Ask

So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.Selected2 Samuel 14:23Ask

And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king’s face.Selected2 Samuel 14:24Ask

But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.Selected2 Samuel 14:25Ask

And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king’s weight.Selected2 Samuel 14:26Ask

And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.Selected2 Samuel 14:27Ask

So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face.Selected2 Samuel 14:28Ask

Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come.Selected2 Samuel 14:29Ask

Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab’s field is near mine, and he hath barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.Selected2 Samuel 14:30Ask

Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire?Selected2 Samuel 14:31Ask

And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king’s face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.Selected2 Samuel 14:32Ask

So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.Selected2 Samuel 14:33Ask

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All 24 chapters of 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 14

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