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18 Then the king said to the woman, ‘Now I want to ask you a question. You must not hide the truth from me.’

She replied, ‘Ask me anything, sir.’

19 The king asked her, ‘Is it Joab who has told you to do this?’

The woman answered, ‘My lord the king, as surely as you live, I cannot hide the truth from you. Yes, it was your servant Joab who told me what to do. He gave me the words to say. 20 He did it because he wanted things to be different. But you, my lord, are as wise as one of God's angels. You know everything that happens in our land.’

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18 Then the king said to the woman, “Don’t keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you.”

“Let my lord the king speak,” the woman said.

19 The king asked, “Isn’t the hand of Joab(A) with you in 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 my lord the king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the mouth of your servant. 20 Your servant Joab did this to change the present situation. My lord has wisdom(B) like that of an angel of God—he knows everything that happens in the land.(C)

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