1 Joab, Zeruiah’s son, knew the king was still thinking about Absalom.
2 So Joab sent ⌊someone⌋ to Tekoa to get a clever woman from there. He told her, “Please act like a mourner, and dress in mourning clothes. Don’t rub olive oil on yourself, but act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time.
3 Go to the king, and tell him this. . . .” Then Joab told her exactly what to say.
4 The woman from Tekoa came to the king and immediately bowed down with her face touching the ground. “Help ⌊me⌋, Your Majesty,” she said.
5 The king asked her, “What can I do for you?”She answered, “I’m a widow; my husband is dead.
6 I had two sons who quarreled in the field, and there was no one to separate them. One killed the other.