9. Then the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me and my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be innocent.”
10. “Whoever speaks to you,” the king said, “bring him to me. He will not trouble you again! ”
11. She replied, “Please, may the king invoke the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son! ” “As the Lord lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son will fall to the ground.”
12. Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king? ”“Speak,” he replied.
13. The woman asked, “Why have you devised something similar against the people of God? When the king spoke as he did about this matter, he has pronounced his own guilt. The king has not brought back his own banished one.
14. We will certainly die and be like water poured out on the ground, which can’t be recovered. But God would not take away a life; He would devise plans so that the one banished from Him does not remain banished.
15. “Now therefore, I’ve come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought: I must speak to the king. Perhaps the king will grant his servant’s request.
16. The king will surely listen in order to rescue his servant from the hand of this man who would eliminate both me and my son from God’s inheritance.
17. Your servant thought: May the word of my lord the king bring relief, for my lord the king is able to discern the good and the bad like the Angel of God. May the Lord your God be with you.”
18. Then the king answered the woman, “I’m going to ask you something; don’t conceal it from me! ”“Let my lord the king speak,” the woman replied.
19. The king asked, “Did Joab put you up to all this? ”The woman answered. “As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or left from all my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave orders to me; he told your servant exactly what to say.