Quotes About Authority

Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.

When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”

“Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”

“If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”

Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” “Speak,” he replied.

Then the king said to the woman, “I am going to ask you something; do not conceal it from me!” “Let my lord the king speak,” she replied.

So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.

Then the king said to Joab, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.”

But the king added, “He may return to his house, but he must not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the king.

Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So Absalom sent a second time, but Joab still would not come.

He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out and ask, “What city are you from?” And if he replied, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,”

Absalom would say, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king has no deputy to hear you.”

Also, when anyone approached to bow down to him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him.

“Go in peace,” said the king. So Absalom got up and went to Hebron.

Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ëAbsalom reigns in Hebron!í”

The kingís servants replied, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.”

“Where is your masterís grandson?” asked the king. And Ziba answered, “Indeed, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he has said, ëToday, the house of Israel will restore to me the kingdom of my grandfather.í”

The LORD has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, you have come to ruin because you are a man of bloodshed!”

Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ëCurse David,í who can ask, ëWhy did you do this?í”

Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophelís advice.

Then David reviewed his troops and appointed over them commanders of hundreds and of thousands.

Then Joab blew the ramís horn, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab had restrained them.

“Move aside,” said the king, “and stand here.” So he stepped aside.