9. “I’ll take all responsibility for what happens,” the woman of Tekoa said. “I don’t want to compromise the king and his reputation.”
10. “Bring the man who has been harassing you,” the king continued. “I’ll see to it that he doesn’t bother you anymore.”
11. “Let the king invoke the name of God,” said the woman, “so this self-styled vigilante won’t ruin everything, to say nothing of killing my son.”“As surely as God lives,” he said, “not so much as a hair of your son’s head will be lost.”
12. Then she asked, “May I say one more thing to my master, the king?”He said, “Go ahead.”
13-14. “Why, then,” the woman said, “have you done this very thing against God’s people? In his verdict, the king convicts himself by not bringing home his exiled son. We all die sometime. Water spilled on the ground can’t be gathered up again. But God does not take away life. He works out ways to get the exile back.”
18. The king then said, “I’m going to ask you something. Answer me truthfully.”“Certainly,” she said. “Let my master, the king, speak.”