2 Samuel 14:18-33 ▼

18 And the king answers and says to the woman, “Please do not hide from me the thing that I am asking you”; and the woman says, “Please let my lord the king speak.”

19 And the king says, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answers and says, “Your soul lives, my lord, O king, none [turn] to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant.

20 Your servant Joab has done this thing in order to bring around the appearance of the thing, and my lord [is] wise, according to the wisdom of a messenger of God, to know all that [is] in the land.”

21 And the king says to Joab, “Now behold, you have done this thing; and go, bring back the young man Absalom.”

22 And Joab falls on his face to the earth, and pays respect, and blesses the king, and Joab says, “Today your servant has known that I have found grace in your eyes, my lord, O king, in that the king has done the word of his servant.”

23 And Joab rises and goes to Geshur, and brings in Absalom to Jerusalem,

24 and the king says, “Let him turn around to his house, and he does not see my face.” And Absalom turns around to his house, and he has not seen the face of the king.

25 And there was no man [so] beautiful in all Israel like Absalom, to praise greatly; from the sole of his foot even to his crown there was no blemish in him;

26 and in his shaving his head—and it has been at the end of year by year that he shaves [it], for it [is] heavy on him, and he has shaved it—he has even weighed out the hair of his head—two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.

27 And there are born to Absalom three sons and one daughter, and her name [is] Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance.

28 And Absalom dwells in Jerusalem [for] two years of days, and he has not seen the face of the king;

29 and Absalom sends to Joab, to send him to the king, and he has not been willing to come to him; and he sends again a second time, and he has not been willing to come.

30 And he says to his servants, “See, the portion of Joab [is] by the side of mine, and he has barley there; go and burn it with fire”; and the servants of Absalom burn the portion with fire.

31 And Joab rises and comes to Absalom in the house, and says to him, “Why have your servants burned the portion that I have with fire?”

32 And Absalom says to Joab, “Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here, and I send you to the king to say, Why have I come in from Geshur? [It was] good for me while I [was] there—and now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me then you have put me to death.”

33 And Joab comes to the king, and declares [it] to him, and he calls to Absalom, and he comes to the king, and bows himself to him, on his face, to the earth, before the king, and the king gives a kiss to Absalom.