2 Samuel 14:1-6

Context

David Permits Absalom to Return to Jerusalem

14:1 Now Joab son of Zeruiah realized that the king longed to see¹ Absalom. 14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning² 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 went⁵ to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me,⁶ O king!” 14:5 The king replied to her, “What do you want?”⁷ She answered, “I am a widow; my husband is dead. 14:6 Your servant⁸ has two sons. When the two of them got into a fight in the field, there was no one present who could intervene. One of them struck the other and killed him.

[14:1] ¹tn Heb “the heart of the king was upon.” The Syriac Peshitta adds the verb ’ethre’i (“was reconciled”).

[14:2] ²tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

[14:2] ³tn Heb “these many days.”

[14:3] ⁴tn Heb “put the words in her mouth” (so NASB, NIV).

[14:4] ⁵tc 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.

[14:4] ⁶tn The word “me” is left to be inferred in the Hebrew text; it is present in the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate.

[14:5] ⁷tn Heb “What to you?”

[14:6] ⁸tn Here and elsewhere (vv. 7, 12, 15a, 17, 19) the woman uses a term which suggests a lower level female servant. She uses the term to express her humility before the king. However, she uses a different term in vv. 15b-16. See the note at v. 15 for a discussion of the rhetorical purpose of this switch in terminology.