Then the woman said: Let thy handmaid speak one word to my lord the king. And he said: Speak.

And the woman said, Let thy bondmaid, I pray thee, speak a word to my lord the king. And he said, Speak.

And the woman saith, 'Let, I pray thee, thy maid-servant speak unto my lord the king a word;' and he saith, 'Speak.'

Then the woman said, Will the king let his servant say one word more? And he said, Say on.

Having at last obtained what she wanted, the king's oath that her son should not die, she proceeds to the case of Absalom. The meaning of 2-Samuel 14:13 may be paraphrased thus: "If you have done right as regards my son, how is it that you harbor such a purpose of vengeance against Absalom as to keep him, one of God's people, an outcast in a pagan country, far from the worship of the God of Israel? Upon your own showing you are guilty of a great fault in not allowing Absalom to return."
The king doth speak - literally, "And from the king speaking this word (this sentence of absolution to my son) he is as one guilty; i. e. the sentence you have pronounced in favor of my son condemns your own conduct toward Absalom."

Then the woman said, let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my Lord the king,.... Having gained her point, and gotten a decree from him confirmed by an oath, that her son though he had killed his brother should not die; she proceeds to accommodate the parable, and apply it to the case of Absalom, and improve it in his favour:
and he said, say on; gave her leave to say what she had further to observe to him; see Luke 7:40.