Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageThe woman spread a cloth over the well's mouth and scattered crushed grain on top of it, so that nothing looked out of place.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThe woman took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered ground grain over it — and the matter went unnoticed.
KJV
King James VersionAnd the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThen the man’s wife took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain over it so nobody would know a thing.
Footnotes
The unnamed woman of Bahurim is the second anonymous female hero in this chapter. By spreading a cover and scattering הָרִיפֹות (*harifot* — dried or crushed grain, likely parched barley spread to dry) over the well's mouth, she deceives Absalom's agents through quick-thinking domestic improvisation. Her deception in service of the anointed king echoes the Hebrew midwives of Egypt (Exod. 1) and Rahab of Jericho (Josh. 2) — women whose household acts became turning points in Israel's redemptive history. Neither FOG nor FOG Message can give her a name; the footnote honours what the text deliberately withholds.
