2 Samuel 14, Additional Reading Isaiah 14

Tuesday, January 14, 2025
 

The Woman of Tekoa

14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was inclined toward Absalom. So Joab sent to Tekoa and [a]brought a wise woman from there and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days; then go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.

Now when the woman of Tekoa [b]spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself and said, “Help, O king.” The king said to her, “What is your trouble?” And she [c]answered, “Truly I am a widow, for my husband is dead. Your maidservant had two sons, but the two of them struggled together in the field, and there was no [d]one to separate them, so one struck the other and killed him. Now behold, the whole family has risen against your maidservant, and they say, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, and destroy the heir also.’ Thus they will extinguish my coal which is left, so as to [e]leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.”

Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “O my lord, the king, the iniquity is on me and my father’s house, but the king and his throne are guiltless.” 10 So the king said, “Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore.” 11 Then she said, “Please let the king remember the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy, otherwise they will destroy my son.” And he said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

12 Then the woman said, “Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.” 13 The woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring back his banished one. 14 For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans [f]ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from him. 15 Now [g]the reason I have come to speak this word to my lord the king is that the people have made me afraid; so your maidservant said, ‘Let me now speak to the king, perhaps the king will perform the [h]request of his maidservant. 16 For the king will hear [i]and deliver his maidservant from the [j]hand of the man who would destroy [k]both me and my son from the inheritance of God.’ 17 Then your maidservant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king be [l]comforting, for as the angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil. And may the Lord your God be with you.’”

18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide anything from me that I am about to ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king please speak.” 19 So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman replied, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Indeed, it was your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant; 20 in order to change the appearance of things your servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know all that is in the earth.”

Absalom Is Recalled

21 Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I will surely do this thing; go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom.” 22 Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself and blessed the king; then Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, O my lord, the king, in that the king has performed the [m]request of his servant.” 23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 However the king said, “Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face.” So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king’s face.

25 Now in all Israel was no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. 26 When he cut the hair of his head (and it was at the end of every year that he cut it, for it was heavy on him so he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels by the king’s weight. 27 To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance.

28 Now Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and did not see the king’s face. 29 Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. So he sent again a second time, but he would not come. 30 Therefore he said to his servants, “See, Joab’s [n]field is next to mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the [o]field on fire. 31 Then Joab arose, came to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why have your servants set my [p]field on fire?” 32 Absalom [q]answered Joab, “Behold, I sent for you, saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me still to be there.”’ Now therefore, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death.” 33 So when Joab came to the king and told him, he called for Absalom. Thus he came to the king and prostrated himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 14:2 Lit took
  2. 2 Samuel 14:4 Many mss and ancient versions read came
  3. 2 Samuel 14:5 Lit said
  4. 2 Samuel 14:6 Lit deliverer between
  5. 2 Samuel 14:7 Lit set
  6. 2 Samuel 14:14 Lit devices
  7. 2 Samuel 14:15 Lit that
  8. 2 Samuel 14:15 Lit word
  9. 2 Samuel 14:16 Lit to
  10. 2 Samuel 14:16 Lit palm
  11. 2 Samuel 14:16 Lit together
  12. 2 Samuel 14:17 Lit for rest
  13. 2 Samuel 14:22 Lit word
  14. 2 Samuel 14:30 Lit portion
  15. 2 Samuel 14:30 Lit portion
  16. 2 Samuel 14:31 Lit portion
  17. 2 Samuel 14:32 Lit said to
 
 

Israel’s Taunt

14 When the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servants and female servants; and [a]they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this [b]taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,

“How the oppressor has ceased,
And how [c]fury has ceased!
“The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers
Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which [d]subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
“The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They break forth into shouts of joy.
“Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
“Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the [e]spirits of the dead, all the [f]leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 “They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 ‘Your pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
12 “How you have fallen from heaven,
O [g]star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will [h]ponder over you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not [i]allow his prisoners to go home?’
18 “All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own [j]tomb.
19 “But you have been cast out of your tomb
Like [k]a rejected branch,
[l]Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit
Like a trampled corpse.
20 “You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have slain your people.
May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.
21 “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities.”

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

Judgment on Assyria

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, 25 to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. 26 This is the plan [m]devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. 27 For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

28 In the year that King Ahaz died this [n]oracle came:

Judgment on Philistia

29 “Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For from the serpent’s root a viper will come out,
And its fruit will be a flying serpent.
30 [o]Those who are most helpless will eat,
And the needy will lie down in security;
I will [p]destroy your root with famine,
And it will kill off your survivors.
31 “Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
[q]Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;
For smoke comes from the north,
And there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 “How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 14:2 Lit the captors will become their captives
  2. Isaiah 14:4 Or proverb
  3. Isaiah 14:4 Amended from the meaningless medhebah to marhebah
  4. Isaiah 14:6 Or ruled
  5. Isaiah 14:9 Or shades (Heb Repha’im)
  6. Isaiah 14:9 Lit male goats
  7. Isaiah 14:12 Heb Helel; i.e. shining one
  8. Isaiah 14:16 Lit show themselves attentive to
  9. Isaiah 14:17 Lit open
  10. Isaiah 14:18 Lit house
  11. Isaiah 14:19 Lit an abhorred branch
  12. Isaiah 14:19 Or As the clothing of those who are slain
  13. Isaiah 14:26 Lit planned
  14. Isaiah 14:28 Or burden
  15. Isaiah 14:30 Lit The firstborn of the helpless
  16. Isaiah 14:30 Lit put to death
  17. Isaiah 14:31 Or Become demoralized

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