2. So Joab sent messengers to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. Joab said to her, “Please pretend to be very sad for someone. Put on clothes to show your sadness. Don’t put lotion on yourself. Act like a woman who has been crying many days for someone who died.
3. Go to the king. Talk to him using the words that I tell you.” Then Joab told the wise woman what to say.
4. So the woman from Tekoa talked to the king. She bowed facedown on the ground to show respect. She said, “My king, help me!”
5. King David asked her, “What is the matter?”The woman said, “I am a widow. My husband is dead.
6. I had two sons. They were out in the field fighting. No one was there to stop them. So one son killed the other son.
7. Now all the family group is against me. They said to me, ‘Bring the son who killed his brother. Then we will kill him for killing his brother. That way we will also get rid of the one who would receive what belonged to his father.’ My son is like the last spark of a fire. He is all I have left. If they kill him, my husband’s name and property will be gone from the earth.”
8. Then the king said to the woman, “Go home. I will take care of this for you.”
9. The woman of Tekoa said to him, “Let the blame be on me. My father’s family and I are to blame, my master and king. But you and your throne are innocent.”
10. King David said, “Bring me anyone who says anything bad to you. Then he won’t bother you again.”
11. The woman said, “Please promise in the name of the Lord your God. Then my relative who has the duty of punishing a murderer won’t add to the destruction. And he won’t kill my son.”David said, “As surely as the Lord lives, no one will hurt your son. Not even one hair from your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
12. The woman said, “Let me say something to you, my master and king.”The king said, “Speak.”
13. Then the woman said, “Why have you planned this? It is against the people of God. When you say this, you show that you are guilty. You have not brought back your son whom you forced to leave home.
14. We will all die some day. We’re like water spilled on the ground. No one can gather it back. But God doesn’t take away life. Instead, he plans ways that those who have been sent away will not have to stay away from him!