1And Yuab son of Tsuriya knew that the heart of David the King was reconciled to Abishlum 2And Yuab sent to Teqoa and he took from there a wise woman and he said to her: “Make lamentation and wear a garment of mourning and you shall not anoint yourself with oil, and be like a woman who has been mourning now many days over one who is dead 3And go in yourself to the King and say to him this word.” And he prepared words and put them in her mouth

4And the Tequoan woman entered to the King, and she fell on her face on the ground, and she worshiped the King, and she said: “Save me, my Lord the King!” 5The King said to her: “What is it with you?” She said to him: “Truly, I am a widow woman. My husband is dead. 6And your Maid Servant had two sons, and the two of them fought in a field, and there was not a deliverer between them, and one prevailed over the other and killed him 7And behold, all the family has arisen against your Maid Servant, and they say: “‘Give him who killed his brother to us, and we shall kill him for the sake of his brother whom he killed!’, and they seek to destroy the heir. And they seek to put out the live coal that is left to me that they would not leave a name to his father and a family on the face of the earth”

8The King said to her: “Go to your house. I shall give an order concerning you” 9This woman the Tequoan said to the King: “My Lord, the King, this crime is on me and on the house of my father, and save the King and his throne!” 10The King said to her: “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not come near you again” 11And she said: “My Lord the King will remember that LORD JEHOVAH God does not destroy with a multitude of dedication of blood, and let them not destroy my son.” The King said to her: “As LORD JEHOVAH God lives, surely a hair of the head of your son will not fall on the ground!”

12And the woman said: “Let your Maid Servant speak a word to the King.” The King said to her, “Speak” 13The woman said to him: “Why have you thought this against the people of God, and why? have you spoken, oh King like a guilty one, and you do not bring back your lost one, oh King? 14Because we are surely dying, and like water we are poured out on the ground, and it is not gathered, and God does not take away the soul, and he devises a plan lest a person would be lost from him 15Now behold, I have spoken this word to my Lord the King, for the people have troubled me and said that I, your Maid Servant, shall speak to the King; perhaps he will save his Maid Servant from the hands of men 16That they will not destroy me and my son from the inheritance of God 17And your Maid Servant said: “The word of my Lord the King shall be firm and shall be a gift because thus my Lord the King is like an Angel of God to hear good and evil, and LORD JEHOVAH your God will be with you!”

18And the King answered and he said to the women: “Do not hide from me the thing that I ask you.” The woman said to him: “Speak, my Lord the King!” 19The King said to her: “Is the hand of Yuab with you in all these things?” And the woman answered and she said to him: “Living is your soul, my Lord the King, that I have turned neither to the right nor to the left from everything that my Lord the King said. Your Servant Yuab ordered me, and he put into the mouth of your Handmaiden all of these words 20So that you would act on my behalf, because Yuab your Servant did thus, and my Lord is wise like the wisdom of the Angels of God, to know all that is in the Earth!”

21The King said to Yuab: “Behold, I have done according to what you have spoken. Go bring to me the boy Abishlum” 22And Yuab fell on his face upon the ground and worshiped the King, and Yuab said: “Today your Servant knows that I have found kindness in your eyes, my Lord, oh King, for the King performs the word of his Servant!” 23And Yuab arose and he went to Gashur and he brought Abishlum to Jerusalem 24And the King said: “He shall go to his house and he shall not appear before me.” And Abishlum went to his house and he did not see the face of the King

25And there was not was a man who was found in Israel like Abishlum, handsome from the sole of his foot and unto his head, there was not a blemish on him 26And whenever his head was sheared, from time to time he was sheared because his hair was heavy on him, he was sheared for it and the hair of his head was weighed at two hundred shekels by the shekel of the King 27And three sons and one daughter were born to Abishlum, and her name was Tamar, and also she was a woman beautiful in appearance

28And Abishlum dwelt in Jerusalem two years and did not see the face of the King 29And Abishlum sent for Yuab to send him to the King, and he was not willing to come, and he sent again a second time, and he was unwilling to come 30And Abishlum said to his Servants: “See the field that Yuab has at my side of the wheat or of the barley? Go burn it with fire!” And the Servants of Abishlum burned the field of Yuab 31And Yuab arose and he went to the house of Abishlum and Yuab said to Abishlum: “Why have your Servants burned my field with fire?” 32Abishlum said to Yuab: “Behold I sent to you and I said: “Come, I shall send you to the King and you shall say to him, ‘Why have I come from Geshur? It was better for me when I was there, and now I wish to appear before the King. If there is a crime with me, let him kill me!’” 33And Yuab came before the King and he told him the words of Abishlum, and he called Abishlum, and Abishlum entered before the King and did homage on his face on the floor before the King, and the King kissed Abishlum