2 Samuel 14:8
ESV
Then the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you."
NIV
The king said to the woman, "Go home, and I will issue an order in your behalf."
NASB
Then the king said to the woman, 'Go to your home, and I will issue orders concerning you.'
CSB
The king told the woman, "Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf."
NLT
Leave it to me,' the king told her. 'Go home, and I’ll see to it that no one touches him.'
KJV
And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee.
NKJV
Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.”
What does 2 Samuel 14:8 mean?
A widowed woman in a difficult situation has made her case before the king. She asked David to override cultural standards as well as the letter of the law: to declare that her clan may not execute her lone surviving son despite his murder of his brother. She's asking for a pardon for her son so that he may take care of her and carry on her husband's family line (2 Samuel 14:7).David's first response is non-committal. He tells her to go home and wait. He will give orders about her situation, but he will not give them immediately.
Because the murder wasn't witnessed (2 Samuel 14:6), the city elders must have declared the man guilty. The clan has the responsibility to avenge a murder. However, the clan may also have something to gain: if the woman's last son dies, a kinsman will take her husband's land. And the Mosaic law is clear that murderers deserve death (Numbers 35:30–31). The woman is appealing to the highest earthly judge by petitioning the king.
It's possible David wants to find out more about her situation before he takes responsibility for such a breach of protocol. She says she can't wait that long, but the story is fake. Joab sent her with this fabricated account to convince David it would be good for everyone if he returned his own son, Absalom, from exile. The woman knows Joab wants an answer now, so she offers to take the blame if that's what it takes (2 Samuel 14:9).
But it's also possible that David's sin against Uriah and Bathsheba and God's pronouncement of judgment has shaken his confidence (2 Samuel 11:2–5, 14–17; 12:7–14).
