1. Joab knew that King David missed Absalom very much,
2. so 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.
3. Then go to the king and say to him what I tell you to say.” Then Joab told her what to say.
4. The 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.
6. Sir, 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.
7. And 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.”
10. The king replied, “If anyone threatens you, bring him to me, and he will never trouble you again.”