9. The woman of Tekoa answered him, “Upon me and my family be the blame, my lord king; the king and his throne are innocent.”
10. Then the king said, “If anyone says a word to you, have him brought to me, and he shall not touch you again.”
11. But she said, “Please, let the king remember the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood may not go too far in destruction and that my son may not be done away with.” He replied, “As the Lord lives, not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”
12. But the woman continued, “Please let your servant say still another word to my lord the king.” He replied, “Speak.”
13. So the woman said: “Why, then, do you think the way you do against the people of God? In pronouncing as he has, the king shows himself guilty, in not bringing back his own banished son.
14. We must indeed die; we are then like water that is poured out on the ground and cannot be gathered up. Yet, though God does not bring back to life, he does devise means so as not to banish anyone from him.
15. And now, if I have presumed to speak to the king of this matter, it is because the people have given me cause to fear. And so your servant thought: ‘Let me speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the petition of his servant.
16. For the king must surely listen and rescue his servant from the grasp of one who would destroy both me and my son from the heritage of God.’
17. And your servant says, ‘Let the word of my lord the king lead to rest; indeed, my lord the king is like an angel of God, discerning good and evil. The Lord your God be with you.’”