5. And the king said to her, What aileth thee? And she said, I am indeed a widow woman, and my husband is dead.
6. And thy bondmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other and slew him.
7. And behold, the whole family is risen against thy bondmaid, and they say, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may put him to death, for the life of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also: so they will quench my coal which is left, and will not leave to my husband a name or remnant on the earth.
8. And the king said to the woman, Go to thy house, and I will give charge concerning thee.
9. And the woman of Tekoah said to the king, Upon me, my lord, O king, be the iniquity, and upon my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless.
10. And the king said, Whoever speaks to thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.
11. Then she said, I pray thee, let the king remember Jehovah thy God that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they cut off my son. And he said, AsJehovah liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.
12. And the woman said, Let thy bondmaid, I pray thee, speak a word to my lord the king. And he said, Speak.
13. And the woman said, Why then hast thou thought such a thing against God's people? and the king in saying this thing, is as one guilty, in that the king does not bring back his banished one.
14. For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; and God has not taken away his life, but devises means that the banished one be not expelled from him.
15. And now that I am come to speak of this thing to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid; and thy bondmaid said, I will now speak to the king; perhaps the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
16. For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God