⁴ When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she bowed with her face to the ground and lay herself down, and said, “Help, O king.” ⁵ The king asked her, “^[a]What is the matter?” She said, “Truly I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶ Your maidservant had two sons, but the two of them struggled and fought in the field. There was no one to separate them, so one struck the other and killed him. ⁷ Now behold, the entire family has risen against your maidservant, and they say, ‘Hand over the one who killed his brother, so that we may ^[b]put him to death [to pay] for the life of his brother whom he killed and destroy the heir also.’ By doing this they will extinguish my coal that is left, leaving my husband without a name or a remnant (heir) on the face of the earth.”