9. And the woman of Tekoa 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.
10. And the king said, Whosoever saith aught unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.
11. Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the Lord thy God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the Lord liveth, there shalt not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.
12. Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak a word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.
13. And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou devised such a thing against the people of God? for in speaking this word the king is as one which is guilty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished one.
14. For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God take away life, but deviseth means, that he that is banished be not an outcast from him.
15. Now therefore seeing that I am come to speak this word 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 servant.
16. For the king will hear to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17. Then thine handmaid said, Let, I pray thee, the word of my lord the king be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: and the Lord thy God be with thee.
18. Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, aught that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.
19. And the king said, Is 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 aught 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;