2 Samuel 19
1 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he walked, he cried, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died in your place, Absalom, my son, my son!”
2 Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”
3 The victory that day turned to mourning for all the people, because that day the people heard, “The king is grieving for his son.”
4 That day the people slipped into the city as people who had fled from battle slip in, ashamed.
5 The king covered his face and cried aloud, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”
6 Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your servants, who today saved your life—and the lives of your sons and daughters, your wives, and your concubines.
7 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you! Today you have made it clear that commanders and servants mean nothing to you. Today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, that would be right in your eyes.
8 Now get up, go out, and speak kindly to your servants. For I swear by the LORD: if you do not go out, not a single man will stay with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come upon you from your youth until now.”
9 The king got up and sat at the gate. Word was sent to all the people: “The king is sitting at the gate.” And all the people came before the king. Israel, however, had fled, each to his own tent.
10 All the people were arguing throughout the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king rescued us from the hands of our enemies, and he delivered us from the hands of the Philistines. But now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.
11 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, died in battle. So why are you silent about bringing the king back?”
12 King David sent word 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 house, when the word of all Israel has already reached the king at his house?
13 You are my brothers, my own bone and flesh. So why should you be the last to bring the king back?’
14 And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own bone and flesh? May God do so to me, and more, if you are not commander of the army before me all your days in Joab’s place.’”
15 So he won the hearts of all the men of Judah as one man, and they sent word to the king: “Return, you and all your servants.”
16 The king returned and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.
17 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
18 A thousand men from Benjamin were with him, along with Ziba, the servant of Saul’s household, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king.
19 The ferry crossed over to bring the king’s household across and to do whatever seemed good to him. Shimei son of Gera fell before the king as he was crossing the Jordan.
20 He said to the king, “May my lord not hold me guilty, and do not remember the wrong your servant did on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.
21 For your servant knows that he has sinned. So today I have come, the first of all Joseph’s house, to come down and meet my lord the king.”
22 Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this? He cursed the LORD’s anointed!”
23 David said, “What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should oppose me today? Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”
24 The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” And the king swore it to him.
25 Mephibosheth, Saul’s son, came down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet, trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely.
26 When he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”
27 He answered, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me. Your servant had said, ‘I’ll saddle the donkey for myself, ride it, and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame.
28 But he slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like the angel of God; do what seems good to you.
29 For all my father’s household were nothing but men deserving death before my lord the king. Yet you placed your servant among those who eat at your table. What right do I have left to plead with the king again?”
30 The king said to him, “Why say anything more about your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba will divide the land.”
31 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take it all, since my lord the king has returned safely to his house.”
32 Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and crossed the Jordan with the king, to accompany him across the Jordan.
33 Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.
34 The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem, at my side.”
35 Barzillai answered the king, “How many years of life do I have left, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
36 I am eighty years old today. Can I still tell good from bad? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of singers and singing women? Why should your servant be a burden to my lord the king?
37 Your servant will cross the Jordan with the king for only a little way. Why should the king reward me in this way?
38 Please let your servant return, so I may die in my own city, beside the tomb of my father and 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.”
39 The king said, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you. Whatever you ask of me, I will do for you.”
40 All the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed too. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned to his home.
41 The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went with him. All the people of Judah brought the king across, along with half the people of Israel.
42 Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal you away and bring the king, his household, and all David’s men across the Jordan?”
43 All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is my close relative. Why are you angry about this? Did we eat anything at the king’s expense, or receive any gift from him?”
44 The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “I have ten shares in the king, and I have a greater claim on David than you do. Why, then, have you treated me with contempt? Wasn’t I the first to speak of bringing my king back?” But the words of the men of Judah were harsher than the words of the men of Israel.
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