2 Samuel 19

1Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”

2So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops, because on that day the troops heard it said, “The king is grieving for his son.”

3The troops crept back into the city that day, the way troops creep in when they are ashamed because they fled from battle.

4The king covered his face and cried out with a loud voice, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”

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

6by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. You have made it clear today that commanders and servants mean nothing to you. I know now that if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead, you would be pleased.

7So now get up, go out, and speak kindly to your servants. I swear by Yahweh that if you do not go out, not one man will stay with you tonight. That will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come on you from your youth until now.”

8So the king got up and took his seat in the gate. When all the troops were told, “The king is sitting in the gate,” they all came before the king. Meanwhile the Israelites had fled, each to his own home.

9Throughout all the tribes of Israel, all the people were arguing among themselves, saying, “The king rescued us from the power of our enemies, and he saved us from the power of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country because of Absalom.

10And Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

11King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “Speak to the elders of Judah and say, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, when what all Israel is saying has reached the king at his house?

12You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring the king back?’

13And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me severely, and more, if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’”

14So he won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, “Come back, you and all your servants.”

15So the king started back and came as far as the Jordan. Meanwhile the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.

16Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

17With him were a thousand men from Benjamin, along with Ziba, the servant of Saul’s house, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king.

18They crossed at the ford to bring the king’s household over and to do whatever he wished. As the king was crossing the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera fell down before him

19and said to the king, “May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember the wrong your servant did on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind.

20For your servant knows that I have sinned. But look, today I have come as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down and meet my lord the king.”

21Abishai son of Zeruiah responded, “Should Shimei not be put to death for this? He cursed Yahweh’s anointed!”

22But David said, “What do I have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should become my adversaries today? Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”

23So the king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” And the king gave him his oath.

24Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also came down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he came back safely.

25When he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”

26He answered, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me. Your servant said, ‘I will have the donkey saddled for me so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for your servant is lame.

27But he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like the angel of God, so do whatever seems good to you.

28For all my father’s family deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, yet you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What right do I have, then, to appeal to the king any further?”

29The king said to him, “Why say any more about your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba are to divide the land.”

30Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take it all, now that my lord the king has come home safely.”

31Barzillai the Gileadite had also come down from Rogelim, and he went on to the Jordan with the king to send him on his way across the Jordan.

32Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.

33The king said to Barzillai, “Come across with me, and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.”

34But Barzillai said to the king, “How many more years do I have to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

35I am now eighty years old. Can I still tell what is good from what is bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?

36Your servant will go just a little way across the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?

37Please let your servant go back, so that I may die in my own town near the grave of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him whatever seems good to you.”

38The king said, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you. And anything you ask of me, I will do for you.”

39Then all the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed too. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned to his home.

40The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went with him. All the troops of Judah, as well as half the troops of Israel, had brought the king across.

41Soon all the men of Israel were coming to the king and saying to him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal you away and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, along with all David’s men?”

42All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why are you angry about this? Have we eaten anything at the king’s expense? Has he given us any gift?”

43But the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, so we have a greater claim on David than you do. Why then did you treat us with contempt? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the men of Judah spoke even more harshly than the men of Israel.