1Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart was set on Absalom.2So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman. He said to her, "Mourn, please, and put on mourning garments; do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning many days over the dead.3Then go to the king and speak to him in this manner." Joab put the words in her mouth.4The woman from Tekoa came to the king, fell on her face to the ground, bowed, and said, "Help, O king."5The king asked her, "What is the matter?" She replied, "I am truly a widow; my husband died.6Your maidservant had two sons. They fought with each other in the field, and no one intervened; one struck the other and killed him.7Then the whole family rose against your maidservant and said, 'Hand over the one who struck his brother so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir as well. Thus we will quench the last coal I have left and leave my husband without name or remnant on the face of the earth.'"8The king said to the woman, "Go home, and I will give orders concerning you."9The woman from Tekoa answered the king, "Let the guilt rest on me and on my father's house, my lord the king, while the king and his throne remain innocent."10The king declared, "Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you again."11She continued, "Please let the king remember the LORD your God, so that the avenger of blood may not destroy my son." The king swore, "As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground."12The woman said, "May your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king?" He answered, "Speak."13She said, "Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? By speaking this word the king makes himself guilty, for he does not bring back the banished one.14We all must die; we are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered again. Yet God does not take away life, but devises means so that the banished one may not remain banished from us.15Now I have come to speak this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your maidservant thought, 'Perhaps the king will grant the request of his maidservant.'16The king will listen and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who seeks to destroy both me and my son together from God's inheritance.17Your maidservant added, 'May the word of my lord the king bring rest, for my lord the king is like the angel of God in discerning good and evil; and may the LORD your God be with you.'"18The king answered the woman, "Do not hide from me anything I ask you." She replied, "Speak, my lord the king."19The king asked, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king has spoken. It was your servant Joab who commanded me and put all these words in my mouth.20Your servant Joab did this to change the course of events. My lord is wise like the wisdom of the angel of God; he knows everything that happens in the land."21Then the king said to Joab, "I have granted this request; go and bring back the young man Absalom."22Joab fell to the ground before the king, bowed, and blessed him, saying, "Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your sight, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant's request."23Joab rose, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.24The king commanded, "Let him return to his own house, but he must not see my face." So Absalom returned to his house and did not see the king's face.25In all Israel there was no man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.26When he cut his hair—once a year, because it grew heavy—he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels by the royal standard.27Three sons and one daughter were born to Absalom; her name was Tamar, and she was a beautiful woman.28Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the king's face.29He sent for Joab to arrange an audience with the king, but Joab refused to come. Absalom sent a second time, yet Joab still would not come.30So Absalom instructed his servants, "See Joab's field next to mine; it has barley. Go and set it on fire." The servants of Absalom set the field on fire.31Joab went to Absalom's house and demanded, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?"32Absalom answered Joab, "I sent for you to ask you to go to the king on my behalf and say, 'Why did I return from Geshur? It would be better for me to remain there.' Now let me see the king's face; if I am guilty, let him put me to death."33Joab reported this to the king. The king summoned Absalom, who came and bowed down before him with his face to the ground; and the king kissed Absalom.