1It was told to Joab, “Look, the king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.”
2So the victory that day became mourning for all the people, for the people heard on that day that it was said, “The king is grieved over his son.”
3And the people stole into the city that day as people who are humiliated steal away when they flee in battle.
4But the king covered his face, and the king cried out with a great voice, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”
5Then Joab came to the king in the house and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants who have this day saved your life, and the life of your sons and your daughters, and the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines,
6by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. For you have declared today that commanders and servants are nothing to you; for I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then it would be right in your eyes.
7Now then, get up, go out, and speak to the heart of your servants; for I swear by Yahweh, if you do not go out, not a man will lodge with you tonight, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”
8So the king got up and sat in the gate. And they told all the people, “Look, the king is sitting in the gate.” And all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled, each man to his tents.
9And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies, and he rescued us from the hand of the Philistines; but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.
10But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. So now, why are you silent about bringing back the king?”
11And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king, to his house?
12You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?’
13And to Amasa say, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? So may God do to me, and more also, if you shall not be commander of the army before me for all time in place of Joab.’”
14So he swayed the heart of every man of Judah as one man, and they sent to the king, “Return, you and all your servants.”
15So the king returned and came to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.
16And Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite who was from Bahurim, hurried and went down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
17and a thousand men from Benjamin were with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him. And they rushed to the Jordan before the king.
18And the ferry crossed over to bring over the king’s household and to do what was good in his eyes. And Shimei son of Gera fell down before the king as he was crossing the Jordan,
19and he said to the king, “Let my lord not reckon guilt to me, and do not remember what wrong your servant did on the day my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart.
20For your servant knows that I have sinned; and behold, I have come today, the first of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king.”
21But Abishai son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Should not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Yahweh’s anointed?”
22But David said, “What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be an adversary to me? Should anyone be put to death today in Israel? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”
23And the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore to him.
24And Mephibosheth son of Saul went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet nor trimmed his mustache nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came back in peace.
25And it happened, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”
26And he said, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me; for your servant said, ‘Let me saddle the donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame.
27And he slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God; so do what is good in your eyes.
28For all my father’s house were nothing but men doomed to death before my lord the king, yet you set your servant among those who eat at your table. So what right do I still have to cry out again to the king?”
29And the king said to him, “Why do you go on speaking of your affairs? I have said: You and Ziba shall divide the field.”
30Then Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take it all, now that my lord the king has come home in peace.”
31Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, and he brought the king across the Jordan, to send him on his way at the Jordan.
32Barzillai was very old, eighty years, and he had provided for the king during his stay at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.
33The king said to Barzillai, “You cross over with me, and I will provide for you at my side 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 eighty years old today. Can I discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I still hear the voice of male singers and female singers? Why then should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king?
36Your servant would only just cross the Jordan with the king; why should the king reward me with such a reward?
37Please let your servant turn back, that I may die in my own city, near the grave of my father and my 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.
38The king said, “Chimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your eyes; and whatever you choose from me, I will do for you.”
39All the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed over; and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his place.
40The king crossed over to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed over with him; all the people of Judah brought the king across, and also half the people of Israel.
41Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why have our kinsmen, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?”
42All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is near of kin to us. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten anything at all at the king’s expense, or has any gift been carried off to us?”
43The men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David too we have more claim than you. Why then did you despise us? Was not our word the first to bring back our king?” But the word of the men of Judah was harsher than the word of the men of Israel.
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