2 Samuel 14
Open in the reader1Now He-Who-Is-Father son of Balm perceived that the king’s heart longed for Father-of-Peace.
2So He-Who-Is-Father sent to Trumpet-Blast to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.
3Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And He-Who-Is-Father put the words in her mouth.
4When the woman from Of-Trumpet-Blast went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”
5“What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.
6And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.
7Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”
8“Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”
9But the woman of Of-Trumpet-Blast said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me and on my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”
10“If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”
11“Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke He-Who-Is your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!” “As surely as He-Who-Is lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
12Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” “Speak,” he replied.
13The woman asked, “Why have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, since he has not brought back his own banished son?
14For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
15Now therefore, I have come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the request of his maidservant.
16For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would cut off both me and my son from God’s inheritance.’
17And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the messenger of God. May He-Who-Is your God be with you.’”
18Then the king said to the woman, “I am going to ask you something; do not conceal it from me!” “Let my lord the king speak,” she replied.
19So the king asked, “Is the hand of He-Who-Is-Father behind 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 that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant He-Who-Is-Father is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.
20He-Who-Is-Father your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the messenger of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”
21Then the king said to He-Who-Is-Father, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Father-of-Peace.”
22He-Who-Is-Father fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said He-Who-Is-Father, “your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”
23So He-Who-Is-Father got up, went to Bridge, and brought Father-of-Peace to Foundation-of-Peace.
24But the king added, “He may return to his house, but he must not see my face.” So Father-of-Peace returned to his own house, but he did not see the face of the king.
25Now there was not a man in all Strives-with-God as handsome and highly praised as Father-of-Peace. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw.
26And when he cut the hair of his head—he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy—he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.
27Three sons were born to Father-of-Peace, and a daughter named Palm-Tree, who was a beautiful woman.
28Now Father-of-Peace lived in Foundation-of-Peace two years without seeing the face of the king.
29Then he sent for He-Who-Is-Father to send him to the king, but He-Who-Is-Father refused to come to him. So Father-of-Peace sent a second time, but He-Who-Is-Father still would not come.
30Then Father-of-Peace said to his servants, “Look, He-Who-Is-Father’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!” And Father-of-Peace’s servants set the field on fire.
31Then He-Who-Is-Father came to Father-of-Peace’s house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32“Look,” said Father-of-Peace, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Bridge? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”
33So He-Who-Is-Father went and told the king, and Beloved summoned Father-of-Peace, who came to him and bowed facedown before him. Then the king kissed Father-of-Peace.