Absalom Revolts against David

151 Now after this, Absalom got for himself a carriage and horses, and fifty runners to go before him. 2 And Absalom got up early, morning after morning, and took his place at the side of the public meeting-place: and when any man had a cause which had to come to the king to be judged, then Absalom, crying out to him, said, What is your town? and he would say, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. 3 And Absalom would say to him, See, your cause is true and right; but no man has been named by the king to give you a hearing. 4 And more than this, Absalom said, If only I was made judge in the land, so that every man who has any cause or question might come to me, and I would give a right decision for him! 5 And if any man came near to give him honour, he took him by the hand and gave him a kiss. 6 And this Absalom did to everyone in Israel who came to the king to have his cause judged: so Absalom, like a thief, took away the hearts of the men of Israel.

7 Now at the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, Let me go to Hebron and give effect to the oath which I made to the Lord: 8 For while I was living in Geshur in Aram, your servant made an oath, saying, If ever the Lord lets me come back to Jerusalem, I will give him worship in Hebron. 9 And the king said to him, Go in peace. So he got up and went to Hebron. 10 But Absalom at the same time sent watchers through all the tribes of Israel to say, At the sound of the horn you are to say, Absalom is king in Hebron. 11 And with Absalom, at his request, went two hundred men from Jerusalem, who were completely unconscious of his designs. 12 And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, one of David's helpers, from Giloh his town, while he was making the offerings. And the design against David became strong, for more and more people were joined to Absalom.

13 And one came to David and said, The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom. 14 And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Come, let us go in flight, or not one of us will be safe from Absalom: let us go without loss of time, or he will overtake us quickly and send evil on us, and put the town to the sword. 15 And the king's servants said to the king, See, your servants are ready to do whatever the king says is to be done. 16 So the king went out, taking with him all the people of his house, but for ten of his women, who were to take care of the house. 17 And the king went out, and all his servants went after him, and made a stop at the Far House. 18 And all the people went on by his side; and all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites and all the men of Ittai of Gath, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, went on before the king. 19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why are you coming with us? go back and keep with the king: for you are a man of another country, you are far from the land of your birth. 20 It was only yesterday you came to us; why then am I to make you go up and down with us? for I have to go where I may; go back then, and take your countrymen with you, and may the Lord's mercy and good faith be with you. 21 And Ittai the Gittite in answer said, By the living Lord, and by the life of my lord the king, in whatever place my lord the king may be, for life or death, there will your servant be. 22 And David said to Ittai, Go forward, then. And Ittai the Gittite went on, with all his men and all the little ones he had with him. 23 And there was great weeping in all the country when all the people went through; and the king himself was waiting in the Kidron valley and all the people went by him in the direction of the olive-tree on the edge of the waste land.

24 Then Zadok came, and Abiathar, and with them the ark of God's agreement: and they put down the ark of God, till all the people from the town had gone by. 25 And the king said to Zadok, Take the ark of God back into the town: if I have grace in the eyes of the Lord, he will let me come back and see it and his House again: 26 But if he says, I have no delight in you: then, here I am; let him do to me what seems good to him. 27 The king said further to Zadok the priest, See, you and Abiathar are to go back to the town in peace, with your two sons, Ahimaaz, your son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will be waiting at the way across the river, in the waste land, till I get news from you. 29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and did not go away from there. 30 And David went up the slopes of the Mount of Olives weeping all the way, with his head covered and no shoes on his feet: and all the people who were with him, covering their heads, went up weeping.

31 And word came to David, saying, Ahithophel is among those who are joined to Absalom. And David said, O Lord, let the wisdom of Ahithophel be made foolish. 32 Now when David had come to the top of the slope, where they gave worship to God, Hushai the Archite came to him in great grief with dust on his head: 33 David said to him, If you go on with me, you will be a trouble to me: 34 But if you go back to the town and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as in the past I have been your father's servant, so now I will be yours: then you will be able to keep Ahithophel's designs against me from being put into effect. 35 And have you not there Zadok and Abiathar the priests? so whatever comes to your ears from the king's house, give word of it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 See, they have with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar; by them you may send word to me of everything which comes to your ears. 37 So Hushai, David's friend, went into the town, and Absalom came to Jerusalem.

31 Now there was a long war between Saul's people and David's people; and David became stronger and stronger, but those on Saul's side became more and more feeble.

David's Sons Born at Hebron

2 While David was in Hebron he became the father of sons: the oldest was Amnon, son of Ahinoam of Jezreel; 3 And the second, Chileab, whose mother was Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom, son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; 4 And the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of Abital; 5 And the sixth, Ithream, whose mother was David's wife Eglah. These were the sons of David, whose birth took place in Hebron.

Abner Plans a League with David

6 Now while there was war between Saul's people and David's people, Abner was making himself strong among the supporters of Saul.

7 Now Saul had among his wives a woman named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ish-bosheth said to Abner, Why have you taken my father's wife? 8 And Abner was very angry at the words of Ish-bosheth, and he said, Am I a dog's head of Judah? I am this day doing all in my power for the cause of your father Saul and for his brothers and his friends, and have not given you up into the hands of David, and now you say I have done wrong with a woman. 9 May God's punishment be on Abner, if I do not for David as the Lord in his oath has said, 10 And if I do not take away the kingdom from the family of Saul and make David ruler over Israel and Judah from Dan as far as Beer-sheba! 11 And so great was Ish-bosheth's fear of Abner that he was not able to say a word in answer. 12 And Abner sent men to David at Hebron, saying, Make an agreement with me, and I will give you my support in getting all Israel on your side. 13 And he said, It is well; I will make an agreement with you, but on one condition, which is, that when you come before me, Saul's daughter Michal is to come with you; till she comes you will not see my face. 14 And David sent men to Saul's son Ish-bosheth, saying, Give me back Michal, my wife, whom I made mine for the price of the private parts of a hundred Philistines. 15 So Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel, the son of Laish. 16 And her husband went with her as far as Bahurim, weeping while he went. Then Abner said to him, Go back. And he went back. 17 Then Abner had a talk with the chief men of Israel, saying, In the past it was your desire to make David your king: so now, do it: 18 For the Lord has said of David, By the hand of my servant David I will make my people Israel safe from the Philistines, and from all who are against them. 19 And Abner said the same things to Benjamin: and he went to David in Hebron to make clear to him what seemed good to Israel and to all the people of Benjamin. 20 So Abner, with twenty men, came to Hebron, to David. And David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. 21 And Abner said to David, Now I will go, and make all Israel come to my lord the king, so that they may make an agreement with you, and your kingdom may be as wide as your heart's desire. Then David sent Abner away and he went in peace.

Joab Kills Abner

22 Now the servants of David and Joab had been out attacking a band of armed men, and they came back with a great store of goods taken in the fight: but Abner was no longer in Hebron with David, for he had sent him away and he had gone in peace. 23 When Joab and his men came, news was given them that Abner, the son of Ner, had come to the king, who had let him go away again in peace. 24 Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have you done? when Abner came to you why did you send him away and let him go? 25 Is it not clear to you that Abner, the son of Ner, came with deceit to get knowledge of your going out and your coming in and of all you are doing? 26 And when Joab had come out from David, he sent men after Abner, and they overtook him at the water-spring of Sirah, and made him come back with them: but David had no knowledge of it. 27 And when Abner was back in Hebron, Joab took him on one side by the doorway of the town to have a word with him quietly, and there he gave him a wound in the stomach, causing his death in payment for the death of his brother Asahel. 28 And when David had word of it he said, May I and my kingdom be clear for ever in the eyes of the Lord from the blood of Abner, the son of Ner: 29 May it come on the head of Joab and all his father's family: among the men of Joab's family may there ever be some who are diseased or lepers, or who do the work of women, or are put to the sword, or are wasted from need of food! 30 So Joab and Abishai his brother put Abner to death, because he had put to death their brother Asahel in the fight at Gibeon. 31 And David said to Joab and all the people who were with him, Go in grief and put haircloth about you, in sorrow for Abner. And King David went after the dead body. 32 And they put Abner's body to rest in Hebron; and the king and all the people were weeping loudly by the resting-place of Abner's body. 33 And the king made a song of grief for Abner and said, Was the death of Abner to be like the death of a foolish man? 34 Your hands were free, your feet were not chained: like the downfall of a man before evil men, so was your fall. And the weeping of the people over him went on again. 35 And the people came to make David take food, while it was still day, but David with an oath said, May God's punishment be on me if I take a taste of bread or any other thing till the sun has gone down! 36 And all the people took note of it and were pleased: like everything the king did, it was pleasing to the people. 37 So it was clear to Israel and to all the people on that day that the king was not responsible for the death of Abner, the son of Ner. 38 And the king said to his servants, Do you not see that a chief and a great man has come to his end today in Israel? 39 While I, though I am crowned king, have little strength, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are out of my control: may the Lord give to the evil-doer the reward of his evil-doing!