1And it was reported to Joab, Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom. 2So the deliverance that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard it said that day, The king is grieved for his son. 3And the people stole back into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 4And the king had covered his face, and the king cried out with a loud voice, O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son! 5And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants who today have delivered your soul, the souls of your sons and daughters, the souls of your wives and the souls of your concubines, 6to love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared today that you regard neither princes nor servants; for today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, that it would have pleased you well. 7Now therefore, arise, go out and speak to the heart of your servants. For I swear by Jehovah, if you do not go out, not one will stay with you this night. And that will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now. 8And the king arose and sat in the gate. And they announced to all the people, saying, Behold, the king is sitting in the gate. So all the people came before the king. For everyone of Israel had fled to his tent. 9Now all the people were in a dispute throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king has rescued us out of the hand of our enemies, he has delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled from the land because of Absalom. 10But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now therefore, why are you being silent to bring back the king? 11So King David sent to Zadok and 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 words of all Israel have come to the king, to his house? 12You are my brethren, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king? 13And say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of the army before me all the days, in place of Joab. 14And he inclined the hearts of all the men of Judah, as one man, so that they sent this word to the king: Return, you and all your servants! 15And the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah had come to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan. 16And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was from Bahurim, hastened and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they had rushed over the Jordan before the king. 18And a ferryboat went across to carry over the king’s household, and to do good in his eyes. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had crossed the Jordan. 19And he said to the king, Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me, nor remember how your servant acted perversely on the day that my lord the king left Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart. 20For I, your servant, know that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I am the first to come today of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. 21But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the anointed of Jehovah? 22And David 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 do I not know that today I am king over Israel? 23Therefore the king said to Shimei, You shall not die. And the king swore to him. 24And Mephibosheth the son of Saul had come down to meet the king. And he had not attended to his feet, nor done his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace. 25And it came to pass, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth? 26And he 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 to the king, because your servant is lame. 27And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is like the 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 eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to cry out anymore to the king? 29And the king said to him, Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, You and Ziba divide the land. 30And Mephibosheth said to the king, Even let him take it all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come back in peace to his own house. 31And Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim and went across the Jordan with the king, to send him across the Jordan. 32Now Barzillai was very old, eighty years old. And he had sustained the king while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man. 33And the king said to Barzillai, Come across with me, and I will provide for you while you are with me in Jerusalem. 34But Barzillai 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 today eighty years old. Can I discern between the good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any longer the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king? 36Your servant will go a little way across the Jordan with the king. And 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, near the grave of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your eyes. 38And the king answered, Chimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your eyes. And whatever you choose of me, I will do for you. 39And all the people went over the Jordan. And when the king had crossed over, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own place. 40And the king passed on over to Gilgal, and Chimham passed along with him. And all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel. 41And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king, his household, and all David’s men with him across the Jordan? 42So all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is next of kin to us. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we ever eaten at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift? 43And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king; therefore we also have more in David than you. Why then have you despised us; were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king? Yet the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.