¹It was told to Joab, "Look, the king is weeping and mourning over Absalom."

²So the deliverance that day became mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day, "The king is pained over his son."

³And the people stole away that day to enter the city, as the people steal away who are ashamed when they flee in battle.

⁴But the king covered his face, and the king cried out with a loud voice, "My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!"

⁵Then Joab came to the king in the house and said, "You have shamed this day the faces of all your slaves, who delivered your being this day, and the being of your sons and your daughters, and the being of your wives, and the being of your concubines,

⁶by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. For you have declared this day that you have no officials and slaves; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead this day, then it would be right in your eyes.

⁷And now, rise, go out, and speak to the heart of your slaves; for by Yahweh I have sworn that if you do not go out, no man will stay the night with you this night, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now."

⁸So the king rose and sat in the gate, and they told all the people, saying, "Look, the king is sitting in the gate." And all the people came before the face of the king. But Israel had fled, each man to his tents.

⁹And all the people were at strife in all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us from the palm of our enemies, and he rescued us from the palm of the Philistines; and now he has fled from the land on account of Absalom.

¹⁰And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in the war. 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 will you be the last to bring the king back to his house. For 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 will you be the last to bring back the king?'"

¹³And to Amasa you shall say, 'Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you do not become captain of the host before my face all the days in place of Joab.'"

¹⁴He turned the heart of every man of Judah as one man, and they sent to the king, "Return, you and all your slaves."

¹⁵So the king returned and came as far as 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 came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

¹⁷And a thousand men of Benjamin were with him, and Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and twenty slaves with him; and they pushed forward to the Jordan before the face of the king.

¹⁸And the ford was crossed to bring across the household of the king and to do what was good in his eyes. And Shimei son of Gera fell before the face of the king as he crossed the Jordan,

¹⁹and said to the king, "Let not my lord reckon guilt to me, and do not remember what your slave acted perversely on the day when my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, so that the king would lay it to his heart.

²⁰For your slave knows that I have sinned; and look, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my lord the king."

²¹But Abishai son of Zeruiah answered and said, "For this shall Shimei not be put to death, since he cursed the anointed one of Yahweh?"

²²And David said, "What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you become an adversary to me this day? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that this day 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 came down to meet the king; he had not attended to his feet, nor had he attended to his moustache, nor had he washed his garments, from the day the king went, until the day that he came in wholeness.

²⁵And it happened, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?"

²⁶And he said, "My lord the king, my slave deceived me; for your slave said, 'Let me saddle the donkey for myself, so that I may ride on it and go with the king,' for your slave is lame.

²⁷And he has slandered your slave to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the messenger of God; so do what is good in your eyes.

²⁸For not all the house of my father was but men of death to my lord the king, yet you set your slave among those who eat at your table. So what is to me again of righteousness, and to cry again to the king?"

²⁹And the king said to him, "Why do you speak still your words? I have said, you and Ziba shall divide the field."

³⁰And Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him take it all too, now that my lord the king has come in wholeness to his house."

³¹And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and crossed the Jordan with the king, to send him off at the Jordan.

³²Now Barzillai was very old, eighty years old; and he had sustained the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.

³³And the king said to Barzillai, "You cross over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem."

³⁴And 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 this day. Can I tell good from evil? Or can your slave taste what I eat and what I drink? Or can I hear still the sound of male singers and female singers? And why should your slave still be a burden to my lord the king?"

³⁶Your slave will cross the Jordan with the king for only a little way; so why should the king deal with me by this recompense?

³⁷Let your slave return, please, and let me die in my own city, near the sepulchre of my father and my mother. But look, your slave Kimham: let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your eyes.

³⁸And the king said, “Kimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your eyes; and whatever you choose to lay upon me, I will do for you.”

³⁹And all the people crossed over the Jordan, and the king crossed over; and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own place.

⁴⁰So the king crossed over to Gilgal, and Kimhan crossed over with him; and all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.

⁴¹And look, every man of Israel was coming to the king, and they said to the king, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal you away and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?”

⁴²And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is close to me. So why has this burned in you over this word? Have we really eaten from the king, or has a gift been lifted up for us?”

⁴³And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, “Ten hands I have in the king, and in David also I am more than you; so why did you treat me with contempt? Was my word not first for me, to bring back my king?” And the words of the men of Judah were harder than the words of the men of Israel.