II Samuel 15-19

II Samuel 15

¹After this, Absalom prepared a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him.

²Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. When any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, “What city are you from?” He said, “Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.”

³Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.”

⁴Absalom said moreover, “Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!”

⁵It was so, that when any man came near to bow down to him, he stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and kissed him.

⁶Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

⁷At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hebron.

⁸For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If the LORD shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.’”

⁹The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron.

¹⁰But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’”

¹¹Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn’t know anything.

¹²Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom.

¹³A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.”

¹⁴David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise! Let’s flee, or else none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry to depart, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

¹⁵The king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.”

¹⁶The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.

¹⁷The king went out, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak.

¹⁸All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.

¹⁹Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner and also an exile. Return to your own place.

²⁰Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you.”

²¹Ittai answered the king and said, “As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king is, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there also.”

²²David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him.

²³All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness.

²⁴Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down God’s ark; and Abiathar went up until all the people finished passing out of the city.

²⁵The king said to Zadok, “Carry God’s ark back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation;

²⁶but if he says, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him.”

²⁷The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

²⁸Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”

²⁹Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried God’s ark to Jerusalem again; and they stayed there.

³⁰David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. All the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

³¹Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

³²When David had come to the top, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head.

³³David said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me;

³⁴but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father’s servant in time past, so I will now be your servant; then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.’

³⁵Don’t you have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore whatever you hear out of the king’s house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

³⁶Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son. Send to me everything that you shall hear by them.”

³⁷So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

II Samuel 16

¹When David was a little past the top, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a container of wine.

²The king said to Ziba, “What do you mean by these?” Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that those who are faint in the wilderness may drink.”

³The king said, “Where is your master’s son?” Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem; for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore me the kingdom of my father.’”

⁴Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours.” Ziba said, “I bow down. Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king.”

⁵When King David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came.

⁶He cast stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

⁷Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and wicked fellow!

⁸The LORD has returned on you all the blood of Saul’s house, in whose place you have reigned! The LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!”

⁹Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.”

¹⁰The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’”

¹¹David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD has invited him.

¹²It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me good for the cursing of me today.”

¹³So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and threw dust.

¹⁴The king and all the people who were with him arrived weary; and he refreshed himself there.

¹⁵Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.

¹⁶When Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, had come to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

¹⁷Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your kindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?”

¹⁸Hushai said to Absalom, “No; but whomever the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, I will be his, and I will stay with him.

¹⁹Again, whom should I serve? Shouldn’t I serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so I will be in your presence.”

²⁰Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel what we shall do.”

²¹Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.”

²²So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

²³The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God. All the counsel of Ahithophel was like this both with David and with Absalom.

II Samuel 17

¹Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.

²I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him will flee. I will strike the king only,

³and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. All the people shall be in peace.”

⁴The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

⁵Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let’s hear likewise what he says.”

⁶When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel has spoken like this. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up.”

⁷Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.”

⁸Hushai said moreover, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

⁹Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom!’

¹⁰Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.

¹¹But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person.

¹²So we will come on him in some place where he will be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground, then we will not leave so much as one of him and of all the men who are with him.

¹³Moreover, if he has gone into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn’t one small stone found there.”

¹⁴Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil on Absalom.

¹⁵Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel that way; and I have counseled this way.

¹⁶Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, ‘Don’t lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.’”

¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and report to them, and they went and told King David; for they couldn’t risk being seen coming into the city.

¹⁸But a boy saw them, and told Absalom. Then they both went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there.

¹⁹The woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread out crushed grain on it; and nothing was known.

²⁰Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.” When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹After they had departed, they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David, “Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.”

²²Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan.

²³When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home to his city, set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

²⁴Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

²⁵Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.

²⁶Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷When David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

²⁸brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans, lentils, roasted grain,

²⁹honey, butter, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

II Samuel 18

¹David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

²David sent the people out, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, “I will also surely go out with you myself.”

³But the people said, “You shall not go out, for if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.”

⁴The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.

⁵The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom.

⁶So the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.

⁷The people of Israel were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.

⁸For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

⁹Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak; and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was hanging between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.

¹⁰A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”

¹¹Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a sash.”

¹²The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’

¹³Otherwise, if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.”

¹⁴Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand and thrust them through Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the middle of the oak.

¹⁵Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him.

¹⁶Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back.

¹⁷They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent.

¹⁸Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom’s monument, to this day.

¹⁹Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.”

²⁰Joab said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.”

²¹Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen!” The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

²²Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since you will have no reward for the news?”

²³“But come what may,” he said, “I will run.” He said to him, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.

²⁴Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, a man running alone.

²⁵The watchman shouted and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer.

²⁶The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, a man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.”

²⁷The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”

²⁸Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!”

²⁹The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.”

³⁰The king said, “Come and stand here.” He came and stood still.

³¹Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king, for the LORD has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.”

³²The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is.”

³³The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!”

II Samuel 19

¹Joab was told, “Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.”

²The victory that day was turned into mourning among all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king grieves for his son.”

³The people sneaked into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.

⁴The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!”

⁵Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants who today have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines;

⁶in that you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have declared today that princes and servants are nothing to you. For today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and we had all died today, then it would have pleased you well.

⁷Now therefore arise, go out and speak to comfort your servants; for I swear by the LORD, if you don’t go out, not a man will stay with you this night. That would be worse to you than all the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now.”

⁸Then the king arose and sat in the gate. The people were all told, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” All the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent.

⁹All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

¹⁰Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why don’t you speak a word of bringing the king back?”

¹¹King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house?

¹²You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’

¹³Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Joab.’”

¹⁴He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as one man, so that they sent to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.”

¹⁵So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.

¹⁶Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

¹⁷There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of Saul’s house, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king.

¹⁸A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had come over the Jordan.

¹⁹He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

²⁰For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”

²¹But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”

²²David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For don’t I know that I am king over Israel today?”

²³The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” The king swore to him.

²⁴Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither groomed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.

²⁵When he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”

²⁶He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame.

²⁷He has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is as an angel of God. Therefore do what is good in your eyes.

²⁸For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should appeal any more to the king?”

²⁹The king said to him, “Why do you speak any more of your matters? I say, you and Ziba divide the land.”

³⁰Mephibosheth said to the king, “Yes, let him take all, because my lord the king has come in peace to his own house.”

³¹Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king to conduct him over the Jordan.

³²Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. He had provided the king with sustenance while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.

³³The king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.”

³⁴Barzillai said to the king, “How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

³⁵I am eighty years old, today. Can I discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear the voice of singing men and singing women any more? Why then should your servant be a burden to my lord the king?

³⁶Your servant will just go over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?

³⁷Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good to you.”

³⁸The king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. Whatever you request of me, that I will do for you.”

³⁹All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. Then the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him; and he returned to his own place.

⁴⁰So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him. All the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.

⁴¹Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king and his household, over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?”

⁴²All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s cost? Or has he given us any gift?”

⁴³The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.