2 Samuel 19

Revised Geneva Translation

19 And it was told to Joab, “Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.”

² Therefore, the victory of that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard say that day, “The king sorrows for his son.”

³ And the people went that day into the city, secretly, as ashamed people when they hide themselves while fleeing in battle.

⁴ So the king hid his face. And the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son! My son!”

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

⁶ “in that you love your enemies and hate your friends. For this day you have declared that you regard neither your princes nor servants. Therefore, this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and we all had died this day, that then it would have pleased you well.

⁷ “Now, therefore, up! Come out and speak comfortably to your servants. For I swear by the LORD, unless you come out, there will not be one man stay with you this night! And that will be worse for you than all the evil that has fallen on you from your youth until now!”

⁸ Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And they declared to all the people, saying, “Behold, the king sits in the gate!” And all the people came before the king (for Israel had fled, each man to his tent).

⁹ Then all the people were quarreling throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land for Absalom!

¹⁰ “And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle! Therefore, why are you so slow to bring the king back?”

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

¹² ‘You are my brethren. My bones and my flesh are yours. Why, then, are you the last who bring the king back?’

¹³ “Also, say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also if you are not captain of the army to me forever in the room of Joab!’”

¹⁴ So he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah, as of one man. Therefore, they sent to the king, saying, “Return with all your servants.”

¹⁵ So the king returned and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go meet the king and to cross over Jordan with him.

¹⁶ And Shimei, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin (who was from Bahurim) hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David,

¹⁷ and a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the House of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants with him. And they went over Jordan before the king.

¹⁸ And a boat went over to carry over the king’s household, and to bring him pleasure. Then Shimei, the son of Gera, fell before the king after he had come over Jordan,

¹⁹ and said to the king, “Do not let my lord think me guilty, or remember the thing that your servant did wickedly when my lord the king departed out of Jerusalem, so that the king would take it to heart.

²⁰ “For your servant knows that I have done amiss. Therefore, behold, I am the first this day, of all the House of Joseph, who has come to go down to meet my lord the king.”

²¹ But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered and said, “Shall not Shimei die for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”

²² And David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that this day you should be adversaries to me? Shall there any man die this day in Israel? For do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?”

²³ Therefore, the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore to him.

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

²⁵ And when he had come to Jerusalem, and met the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”

²⁶ And he answered, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I would have my donkey saddled, to ride on it to go with the king,’ because your servant is lame.

²⁷ “And he has accused your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of God. Therefore, do your pleasure.

²⁸ “For all my father’s House were but dead men before my lord the king, yet you sat your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right, therefore, do I still have to cry anymore to the king?”

²⁹ And the king said to him, “Why do you speak any more of your matters? I have said, ‘You and Ziba divide the lands.’”

³⁰ And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Yes. Let him take it all, seeing my lord the king has come home in peace.”

³¹ Then Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and went over Jordan with the king, to send him over Jordan.

³² Now Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. And he had provided the king with supplies while he sojourned in Mahanaim. For he was a man of very great substance.

³³ And the king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will feed you with me in Jerusalem.”

³⁴ And Barzillai said to the king, “How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

³⁵ “I am this day eighty years old, and can I discern between good or evil? Has your servant any taste in what I eat, or in that I drink? Can I hear anymore the voice of singing men and women? Why, then, should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king?

³⁶ “Your servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king. And why would the king repay me with such a reward?

³⁷ “Please let your servant turn back again, so that I may die in my own city and be buried in the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold your servant Chimham. Let him go with my lord the king and do with him what shall please you.”

³⁸ And the king answered, “Chimham shall go with me, and I will do with him that with which you shall be content. And whatever you shall require of me, that will I do for you.”

³⁹ So all the people went over Jordan. And the king passed over. And the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him. And he returned to his own place.

⁴⁰ Then the king went to Gilgal, and Chimham went with him. And all the people of Judah crossed over with the king, and also half the people of Israel.

⁴¹ And 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 have brought the king and his household and all David’s men with him over Jordan?”

⁴² And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative to us. And why now are you angry for this matter? Have we eaten at the king’s expense? Or have we taken any bribes?”

⁴³ And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten parts in the king, and have also more right to David than you. Why then did you despise us, so that our advice would not be first had in restoring our king?” And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.