¹³ A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell King David, “All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you!”

¹⁴ “Then we must flee at once or it will be too late!” was David’s instant response to his men. “If we get out of the city before he arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be saved.”

³⁰ David walked up the road that led to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning. And the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the mountain.

⁵ As David and his party passed Bahurim, a man came out of the village cursing them. It was Shimei, the son of Gera, a member of Saul’s family. ⁶ He threw stones at the king and the king’s officers and all the mighty warriors who surrounded them!

^7-8 “Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!” he shouted at David. “The Lord is paying you back for murdering King Saul and his family; you stole his throne and now the Lord has given it to your son Absalom! At last you will taste some of your own medicine, you murderer!”

⁹ “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?” Abishai demanded. “Let me go over and strike off his head!”

¹⁰ “No!” the king said. “If the Lord has told him to curse me, who am I to say no? ¹¹ My own son is trying to kill me, and this Benjaminite is merely cursing me. Leave him alone, for no doubt the Lord has told him to do it. ¹² And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses.”

¹³ So David and his men continued on, and Shimei kept pace with them on a nearby hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones at David and tossing dust into the air.