2 Samuel 14:17-24

14:17 So your servant said, ‘May the word of my lord the king be my security, for my lord the king is like the angel of God when it comes to deciding between right and wrong! May the Lord your God be with you!’”

14:18 Then the king replied to the woman, “Don’t hide any information from me when I question you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak!” 14:19 The king said, “Did Joab put you up to all of this?” ¹  The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, there is no deviation to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has said. For your servant Joab gave me instructions. He has put all these words in your servant’s mouth. 14:20 Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land.” ² 

14:21 Then the king said to Joab, “All right! I ³  will do this thing! Go and bring back the young man Absalom! 14:22 Then Joab bowed down with his face toward the ground and thanked ⁴  the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your ⁵  servant!”

14:23 So Joab got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. ⁶  14:24 But the king said, “Let him go over ⁷  to his own house. He may not see my face.” So Absalom went over ⁸  to his own house; he did not see the king’s face.

[14:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”

[14:20]  ² tn Heb “to know all that is in the land.”

[14:21]  ³ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have “you” rather than “I.”

[14:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “blessed.”

[14:22]  ⁵ tc The present translation reads with the Qere “your” rather than the MT “his.”

[14:23]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[14:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “turn aside.”

[14:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “turned aside.”