3 Then go to the king and speak these words to him.’ And Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honour, and she said, ‘Help me, Your Majesty!’
5 The king asked her, ‘What is troubling you?’She said, ‘I am a widow; my husband is dead.
6 I your servant had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him.
7 Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant; they say, “Hand over the one who struck his brother down, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed; then we will get rid of the heir as well.” They would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.’
8 The king said to the woman, ‘Go home, and I will issue an order on your behalf.’
9 But the woman from Tekoa said to him, ‘Let my Lord the king pardon me and my family, and let the king and his throne be without guilt.’