# 2 Samuel 15

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/2-samuel/15

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. Some time after this, Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, with fifty men to run ahead of him.
2. Absalom would get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone had a dispute to bring before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him and say, “What town are you from?” And when he answered, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,”
3. Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are good and right, but there is no one from the king to hear you.”
4. Absalom would also say, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who had a dispute or a case could come to me, and I would see that he got justice.”
5. And whenever someone came near to bow down to him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him.
6. Absalom acted this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king for a decision. So Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
7. At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and fulfill the vow I made to Yahweh.
8. For your servant made a vow while I was living in Geshur in Aram: ‘If Yahweh will really bring me back to Jerusalem, I will worship Yahweh in Hebron.’”
9. The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he got up and went to Hebron.
10. Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel to say, “As soon as you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, say, ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’”
11. Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom. They had been invited and went in all innocence, knowing nothing about the matter.
12. While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from his town of Giloh. So the conspiracy gained strength, and the number of people with Absalom kept growing.
13. A messenger came to David and said, “The hearts of the people of Israel have gone over to Absalom.”
14. Then David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Get up, let us flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom! Leave at once, or he will quickly overtake us, bring disaster down on us, and put the city to the sword.”
15. The king’s servants said to the king, “Your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.”
16. So the king set out, and his whole household followed him. But the king left ten concubines to take care of the palace.
17. The king set out with all the people following him, and they stopped at the last house.
18. All his servants marched past him, along with all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath marched past the king.
19. The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you coming with us too? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner, and an exile from your own home as well.
20. You came only yesterday, and today should I make you wander around with us, while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your brothers with you. May kindness and faithfulness be with you.”
21. But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether it means death or life, there your servant will be.”
22. David said to Ittai, “Go ahead, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and all the little children who were with him.
23. The whole countryside wept loudly as all the people passed by. The king crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the wilderness road.
24. Zadok was there too, and all the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar went up until all the people had finished leaving the city.
25. Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in Yahweh’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see both it and the place where it stays.
26. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then here I am; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”
27. The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Go back to the city in peace, and take your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan son of Abiathar.
28. See, I will wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”
29. So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they stayed there.
30. David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered, and he walked barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too, and they went up weeping as they went.
31. David was told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David said, “Yahweh, please turn Ahithophel’s advice into foolishness.”
32. When David reached the summit, where people worshiped God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him, with his robe torn and dust on his head.
33. David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me.
34. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; I was your father’s servant in the past, and now I will be your servant,’ then you can defeat Ahithophel’s advice for me.
35. Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Whatever you hear from the king’s palace, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
36. Their two sons are there with them, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar. Send them to me with everything you hear.”
37. So David’s friend Hushai arrived at the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.

## Nearby chapters

[2 Samuel 14](https://www.lumin.faith/read/2-samuel/14.md)
[2 Samuel 16](https://www.lumin.faith/read/2-samuel/16.md)

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