2 Samuel 20:18-20

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹⁸ Then she said, “They were wont to say in old time, ‘Let them but ask counsel at Abel’; and so they settled a matter. ¹⁹ I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel; you seek to destroy a city which is a mother in Israel; why will you swallow up the heritage of the Lord?” ²⁰ Jo′ab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy!