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2 Samuel 14 · a question people ask

Is 14:14 a promise about God?

In the text

It is part of a speech, and the chapter says whose. Joab "put the words in her mouth" (14:3), and she tells the king, "he put all these words in the mouth of your servant" (14:19). She says them to move the king to bring home "his banished one" (14:13), and "Your servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter" (14:20). The verse itself says, "neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him" (14:14). The chapter doesn't say whether this is true of God, and no other verse in the Bible quotes it. What the chapter does show is what the words did: the king said, "I have granted this thing" (14:21).

The verses

“Go in to the king and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.”
2 Samuel 14:3 · World English Bible
“The woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one. For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.”
2 Samuel 14:13-14 · World English Bible
“The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. Your servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are on the earth.” The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.””
2 Samuel 14:19-21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Samuel 14

2 Samuel 14: Water spilled on the ground

"Neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him" (14:14) is a line in a story: "Joab put the words in her mouth" (14:3). It brought Absalom home, but he "didn’t see the king’s face" for two full years (14:28), until "the king kissed Absalom" (14:33).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions