2 Samuel
Chapter 15
1 After this, Absalom got chariots, horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him.
2 Absalom got up early and stood by the gate’s path. Whenever someone with a problem came to the king for a decision, Absalom would call them over and ask, “Which city are you from?” And the person would answer, “I am from one of Israel’s tribes.”
3 Absalom told him, “Look, your issues are fair and correct; but there’s no one appointed by the king to listen to you.”
4 Absalom also said, “I wish I were the judge of the land, so everyone with any issue could come to me, and I would give them fairness!”
5 Whenever someone came close to honor him, he reached out his hand, grabbed them, and kissed them.
6 Absalom acted this way toward all Israelites who came to the king for a decision: so Absalom won over the hearts of the people of Israel.
7 After forty years, Absalom asked the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to keep my promise to God.”
8 I made a promise when I was staying in Geshur, in Syria. I said, “If God brings me back to Jerusalem, I will serve God.”
9 The king told him, “Leave in peace.” So he got up and went to Hebron.
10 Absalom sent spies to all of Israel’s tribes, telling them, “When you hear the trumpet, say ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’”
11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom because they were invited. They went innocently, not knowing anything.
12 Absalom called for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s advisor, from his city Giloh while he was making sacrifices. The plot grew powerful because more and more people joined Absalom.
13 A messenger came to David and said, “The people of Israel are following Absalom.”
14 David told his servants in Jerusalem, “Get up and let’s run away. We can’t escape from Absalom if we don’t. Hurry and leave, or he will catch us quickly, hurt us, and attack the city with his sword.”
15 The king’s helpers told the king, “Look, we are your helpers, ready to do whatever the king decides.”
16 The king went out, and his whole family followed. He left ten women concubines to take care of the house.
17 The king set out, and everyone followed him, and they stopped at a place that was far away.
18 All his helpers walked past him; the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and the Gittites, six hundred men who followed him from Gath, walked ahead of the king.
19 The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also coming with us? Go back to your home and stay with the king: you are a foreigner and an exile.”
20 Since you only arrived yesterday, should I make you move around with us today? I will go wherever I can, so go back and take your brothers with you. May mercy and truth be with you.
21 Ittai told the king, “As God is alive, and as you, the king, are alive, I promise wherever you are, whether dead or alive, I will be there too.”
22 David said to Ittai, “Go and cross over.” Ittai the Gittite and all his men and the children with him crossed over.
23 Everyone in the land cried loudly, and all the people crossed the river. The king crossed the Kidron stream too, and all the people went toward the desert way.
24 Look, Zadok and all the Levites were with him, carrying God’s covenant box. They put down God’s box, and Abiathar left when all the people finished leaving the city.
25 The king told Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If God is pleased with me, he will let me come back to see it and his dwelling place again.”
26 But if he says, “I don’t enjoy you”; look, I am here, let him do to me what seems good to him.
27 The king told Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a prophet? Go back to the city in peace, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son.”
28 Look, I will wait in the desert plain until you send me a message to inform me.
29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.
30 David climbed the slope of the Mount of Olives, crying as he climbed, with his head covered and barefoot. Everyone with him also covered their heads, all crying while going up.
31 Someone told David, “Ahithophel is working with Absalom against you.” And David prayed, “God, please make Ahithophel’s advice seem foolish.”
32 When David reached the mountaintop where he worshipped God, Hushai the Archite approached him with his coat torn and dirt on his head.
33 David said, “If you come with me, then you will be a burden to me.”
34 If you go back to the city and tell Absalom, “I will serve you, king, like I served your father before,” then you can help stop Ahithophel’s plan for me.
35 Don’t you have Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, with you? So, whatever you hear from the king’s house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests.
36 Look, they have their two sons with them there, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son. Use them to send me any news you hear.
37 Hushai, David’s friend, entered the city while Absalom entered Jerusalem.