Then I will return all the people to you; when all have returned, the man whom you [are] seeking [will be dead], but all the people will be safe."

Hushai said further, You have knowledge of your father and his men, that they are men of war, and that their feelings are bitter, like those of a bear in the field whose young ones have been taken from her: and your father is a man of war, and will not take his night's rest with the people;

Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, 'There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom!'

So that I have counselled: Let all Israel be diligently gathered unto thee, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and thou thyself art going in the midst;

and we have come in unto him in one of the places where he is found, and we are upon him as the dew falleth on the ground, and there hath not been left of him and of all the men who are with him even one.

And if unto a city he is gathered, then they have caused all Israel to bear unto that city ropes, and we have drawn it unto the brook till that there hath not been found there even a stone.'

Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled.

And Jonathan and Ahimaaz are standing at En-Rogel, and the maid-servant hath gone and declared to them -- and they go and have declared it to king David -- for they are not able to be seen to go in to the city.

And Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, and said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And they sought and could not find them, and returned to Jerusalem.

and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, have brought nigh for David, and for the people who are with him to eat, for they said, 'Thy people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.'

“You must not go!” the people pleaded. “If we have to flee, they will not pay any attention to us. Even if half of us die, they will not pay any attention to us because you are worth 10,000 of us. Therefore, it is better if you support us from the city.”

And the king saith unto them, 'That which is good in your eyes I do;' and the king standeth at the side of the gate, and all the people have gone out by hundreds and by thousands,

And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.

The man told Joab, “Even if I were to feel the weight of a thousand pieces of silver in my hands, I would not put out my hand against the king’s son; for we all heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, ‘Protect the young man Absalom, for my sake.’

Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.

Then Joab said, I would have made it safe for you. And he took three spears in his hand, and put them through Absalom's heart, while he was still living, in the branches of the tree.

and they take Absalom and cast him in the forest unto the great pit, and set up over him a very great heap of stones, and all Israel have fled -- each to his tent.

Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place.

Then Joab said to the Cushite (Ethiopian), “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” And the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But come what may, let me, I pray thee, also run after the Cushite. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou wilt have no reward for the tidings?

And the king saith, 'Peace to the youth -- to Absalom?' And Ahimaaz saith, 'I saw the great multitude, at the sending away of the servant of the king, even thy servant by Joab, and I have not known what it is.'

And then the Cushite came and said, I have news for my lord the king: today the Lord has done right in your cause against all those who took up arms against you.

And the king saith unto the Cushite, 'Peace to the youth -- to Absalom?' And the Cushite saith, 'Let them be -- as the youth -- the enemies of my lord the king, and all who have risen up against thee for evil.'

Then the king was much moved, and went up into the room over the door, weeping, and saying, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! if only my life might have been given for yours, O Absalom, my son, my son!

And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines;

in that thou lovest them that hate thee, and hatest those that love thee. For thou hast declared this day, that neither princes nor servants are anything to thee: for to-day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died to-day, then it would have been right in thine eyes.

And now, rise, go out and speak unto the heart of thy servants, for by Jehovah I have sworn, that -- thou art not going out -- there doth not lodge a man with thee to-night; and this is worse for thee than all the evil that hath come upon thee from thy youth till now.'

And the king riseth, and sitteth in the gate, and to all the people they have declared, saying, 'Lo, the king is sitting in the gate;' and all the people come in before the king, and Israel hath fled, each to his tents.

and a thousand men are with him from Benjamin, and Ziba servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, and they have gone prosperously over the Jordan before the king.

For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.

And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?

He replied, "Well, your majesty, since your servant is lame, I told myself, "I'll have my donkey saddled and I'll ride on it so I can leave with the king.' But my servant Ziba deceived me

For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?

And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land.

Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him have the whole thing! My lord the king has returned safely to his house!"

and the king saith unto Barzillai, 'Pass thou over with me, and I have sustained thee with me in Jerusalem.'

And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem?

I am now eighty years old: good and bad are the same to me; have meat and drink any taste for me now? am I able to take pleasure in the voices of men or women in song? why then am I to be a trouble to my lord the king?

And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king, and his household, and all David's men with him, over Jordan?

And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us: wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? have we eaten at all of the king's cost? or hath he given us any gift?

And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

And every man of Israel goeth up from after David, after Sheba son of Bichri, and the men of Judah have cleaved to their king, from the Jordan even unto Jerusalem.

Then David went to his palace in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

and David saith unto Abishai, 'Now doth Sheba son of Bichri do evil to us more than Absalom; thou, take the servants of thy lord, and pursue after him, lest he have found for himself fenced cities, and delivered himself from our eye.'

And Joab said to Amasa, "Are all things in rest and peace my brother?" And Joab took Amasa by the chin with the right hand, as though he would have kissed him.

and Amasa hath not been watchful of the sword that is in the hand of Joab, and he smiteth him with it unto the fifth rib, and sheddeth out his bowels to the earth, and he hath not repeated it to him, and he dieth; and Joab and Abishai his brother have pursued after Sheba son of Bichri.

And Amasa is rolling himself in blood, in the midst of the highway, and the man seeth that all the people have stood still, and he bringeth round Amasa out of the highway to the field, and casteth over him a garment, when he hath seen that every one who hath come by him -- hath stood still.

Then a wise woman got up on the wall, and crying out from the town, said, Give ear, give ear; say now to Joab, Come near, so that I may have talk with you.

And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

And they say unto the king, 'The man who consumed us, and who devised against us -- we have been destroyed from stationing ourselves in all the border of Israel --

let there be given to us seven men of his sons, and we have hanged them before Jehovah, in the height of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah.' And the king saith, 'I do give;'

and giveth them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hang them in the hill before Jehovah; and the seven fall together, and they have been put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, the commencement of barley-harvest.

And again have the Philistines war with Israel, and David goeth down, and his servants with him, and they fight with the Philistines; and David is weary,

And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

these four have been born to the giant in Gath, and they fall by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

For the waves of death have closed me about, and the floods of Belial have feared me.

The cords of Sheol have surrounded me, Before me have been the snares of death.

Gone up hath smoke by His nostrils. And fire from His mouth devoureth, Brands have been kindled by it.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

Indeed, I have kept all His ordinances in mind
and have not disregarded His statutes.

I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.

On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright;

For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

“You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,
And Your help and gentleness make me great.

Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; And my feet have not slipped.

I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.

And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.

You have girded me with physical strength for the battle; you caused those who rose up against me to kneel under me.

“You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me [in retreat],
And I destroyed those who hated me.

Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people; Thou hast kept me to be the head of the nations: A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

Strangers have faded away, And they come trembling forth from their close places.

He makes me free from my haters: I am lifted up over those who come up against me: you have made me free from the violent man.

And after him is Eleazar son of Dodo, son of Ahohi, of the three mighty men with David; in their exposing themselves among the Philistines -- they have been gathered there to battle, and the men of Israel go up --

And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, to do this; how may I take as my drink the life-blood of men who have put their lives in danger? So he would not take it. These things did the three great men of war.

And the king saith unto Joab, head of the host that is with him, 'Go to and fro, I pray thee, through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, and inspect ye the people -- and I have known the number of the people.'

And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, and I will do it to you.

So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, think it over and decide what answer I should take back to the One who sent me.”

And David saith unto Gad, 'I have great distress, let us fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah, for many are His mercies, and into the hand of man let me not fall.'

And when the Angel stretched out his hand unto Jerusalem to have destroyed it, the LORD had compassion to do that evil, and said to the Angel that destroyed the people, "It is sufficient: let thine hand cease." And the Angel was at the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will give you a price for it; I will not give to the Lord my God burned offerings for which I have given nothing. So David got the grain-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

so his servants suggested to him, "Let's look for a young virgin woman to take care of you, your majesty. She will be of use to you if you have her lie down near you so that your majesty may keep warm."

Now the young woman was very beautiful; she was of use for the king, and she served him, but the king did not {have sexual relations with her}.

His father [David] had never rebuked him at any time by asking, “Why have you done this?” Adonijah was also a very handsome man, and he was born after Absalom.

and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty ones whom David hath, have not been with Adonijah.

Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know about it?

Come, go to King David and say to him, 'Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, "Surely Solomon your son shall become king after me. And he will sit on my throne"? But why is Adonijah king?'

Lo, thou are yet speaking there with the king, and I come in after thee, and have completed thy words.'

and it hath been, when my lord the king lieth with his fathers, that I have been, I and my son Solomon -- reckoned sinners.'

Then Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne’?

"For he went down today and sacrificed oxen, sheep, and fattened animals {in abundance}. He invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and look, they are eating and drinking before him. They have also said, "Long live King Adonijah!

If this thing has been done by my lord the king, why have you not shown your servants who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

And the king saith to them, 'Take with you the servants of your lord, and ye have caused Solomon my son to ride on mine own mule, and caused him to go down unto Gihon,

and anointed him there hath Zadok the priest -- and Nathan the prophet -- for king over Israel, and ye have blown with a trumpet, and said, Let king Solomon live;

Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

And Adonijah heareth, and all those called, who are with him, and they have finished to eat, and Joab heareth the noise of the trumpet, and saith, 'Wherefore is the noise of the city roaring?'

And while the words were on his lips, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, came; and Adonijah said, Come in; for you are a man of good faith and the news which you have for us will be good.

And the king hath sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king's mule: