2 Samuel 14:1-4

David Permits Absalom to Return to Jerusalem

14:1 Now Joab son of Zeruiah realized that the king longed to see ¹  Absalom. 14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ²  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ³  14:3 Go to the king and speak to him in the following fashion.” Then Joab told her what to say. ⁴ 

14:4 So the Tekoan woman went ⁵  to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me, ⁶  O king!”

¹ tn Heb “the heart of the king was upon.” The Syriac Peshitta adds the verb ’ethre’i (“was reconciled”).

² tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

³ tn Heb “these many days.”

⁴ tn Heb “put the words in her mouth” (so NASB, NIV).

⁵ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וַתַּבֹא (vattavo’, “and she went”) rather than the MT וַתֹּאמֶר (vatto’mer, “and she said”). The MT reading shows confusion with וַתֹּאמֶר later in the verse. The emendation suggested here is supported by the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, some mss of the Targum, and Vulgate.

⁶ tn The word “me” is left to be inferred in the Hebrew text; it is present in the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate.