1   And Ioab the sonne of Saruia, vnderstanding that the kinges hart was turned to Absalom,

2   he sent to Thecua, and tooke thence a prudent woman: and he sayd to her: Feyn e that thou mournest, and put on a mourning garment, and be not annoynted with oyle, that thou mayst be as a wom an now a long tyme mourning for one dead.

Dauid.

3   And thou shalt goe in vnto the king, and shalt speake to him these maner of wordes. And Ioab put the wordes in her mouth.

4   Therefore when the woman of Thecua was gone in to the king, she fel before him vpon the ground, and adored and said: Saue me ô king.

5   And the king sayd to her: What matter hast thou? Who answered: Alas, I am a widow woman: for my husband is dead.

6   And thy handmaide had two sonnes: who fel at wordes against eche other in the field, and there was none to stay them: and the one stroke the other, and slew him.

7   And behold the whole kinred rysing against thy handmaide, saith: Deliuer him that hath striken his brother that we may kil him for the life of his brother, whom he hath slayne, and may cleane destroy the heire: and they seeke to extingnish my sparkle, which is leift, that there may no name remaine to my husband, nor reliques vpon the earth.

8   And the king said to the woman: Goe into thy house, and I wil geue commandement for thee.

9   And the woman of Thecua said to the king: Vpon me, my lord, be the iniquitie, and vpon the house of my father: but be the king and his throne innocent.

10   And the king said: He that shal gaynesay thee bring him to me, & he shal adde no more to touch thee.

11   Who sayd: Let the king remember our Lord his God, that the next of bloud be not multiplied to reuenge, and that they kil not my sonne. Who sayd: Our Lord liueth, there shal not fal of the heares of thy sonne vpon the earth.

12   The woman therefore sayd: Let thy handmayde speake to my lord the king a word.

13   And he sayd: Speake. And the woman sayd: Why hast thou thought such a thing agaynst the people of God, and why hath the king spoken this word, that he would sinne, and not bring againe his banished one?

14   We doe al dye, and as waters that returne not, we fal downe on the earth: neither wil God haue a soule to perish, but reuoketh, meaning that he perish not altogether that is cast of.

15   Now therefore I come, that I may speake to my lord the king this word, the people being present. And thy handmayd sayd: I wil speake to the king, if by any meanes the king may doe the word of his handmaide.

16   And the king hath heard, to deliuer his handmaide out of the hand of al, that would destroy me out of the inheritance of our Lord, and my sonne together.

17   Let thy handmaide therefore say, that the word of my lord the king be made as a sacrifice. For euen as an

Dauid. Angel of God, so is my lord the king, that he is moued neither with blessing nor cursing: Wherefore our Lord also thy God is with thee.

18   And the king answering, sayd to the woman: Hide not from me the thing that I aske thee. And the woman sayd to him: Speake my lord king.

19   And the king sayd: Is the hand of Ioab with thee in al these thinges? The woman answered, and sayd: By the health of thy soule, my lord king, it is neither on the left hand, nor on the right of al these thinges, which my lord the king hath spokeu: for thy seruant Ioab, he commanded me, and he put al these wordes into the mouth of thy handmayde.

20   That I should change the forme of this speach, thy seruant Ioab commanded this: and thou my lord king, art wise, as an Angel of God hath wisdom, that thou vnderstandest al thinges vpon the earth.

21   And the king sayd to Ioab: Behold I being pacified haue done thy word: Goe therefore, and cal agayne the boy Absalom.

22   And Ioab falling vpon his face vnto the earth, adored, and ^note blessed the king: and Ioab sayd: This day thy seruant hath vnderstood, that I haue found grace in thy sight my lord king: for thou hast done the word of thy seruant.

23   Ioab therefore arose and went into Gessur, and brought Absalom into Ierusalem.

24   But the king sayd: Let him returne into his house, and not see my face. Absalom therefore returned into his house, and the kings face he saw not.

25   Moreouer like as Absalom, there was not a man in al Israel so beautiful, and exceding comelie: from the sole of the foote to the crowne there was no blemish in him.

26   And when he powled his heare (once a yeare he was powled, because his bush did burden him) he weighed the heare of his head at two hundred sicles, of the common weight.

27   And there were borne to Absalom ^note three sonnes: and one daughter, named Thamar, of a goodly beautie.

28   And Absalom abode in Ierusalem two yeares, and saw not the kinges face.

29   He therefore sent to Ioab, to send him to the king: who would not come to him. And when he had sent the second time, and he would not come to him,

30   he sayd to his seruantes: You know the filde of Ioab beside my filde, that hath barley haruest: goe therefore and burne it with fyre. The seruantes therefore of Absalom burnt the corne with fyre. And Ioabs seruantes coming, renting their garmentes, sayd: The seruantes of Absalom haue burnt part of the filde with fyre.

31   And Ioab arose, & came to Absalom

Dauid. in his house, & sayd: Why haue thy seruantes burnt my corne with fire?

32   And Absalom answered Ioab: I sent to thee beseching thee that thou wouldest come vnto me, and I might send thee to the king, and thou shouldest say to him: Wherefore came I out of Gessur? It was better for me to be there: I besech thee therefore that I may see the face of the king: & if he be mindeful of mine iniquitie, let him kil me.

33   Ioab therefore entring in to the king, told him al thinges: and Absalom was called, and he entered in to the king: and adored vpon the face of the earth before him: and the king kissed Absalom.

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