¹⁶ Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’” ¹⁷ He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Joab?”

He answered, “I am.”

Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your servant.”

He answered, “I’m listening.”

¹⁸ Then she spoke, saying, “They used to say in old times, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Abel;’ and so they settled a matter.