And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me. Why should I smite thee to the ground? How then would I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?

And the king lamented for Abner, and said, Should Abner die as a fool dies?

Now therefore thus thou shall say to my servant David, Thus says LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that thou should be prince over my people, over Israel.

And he did obeisance, and said, What is thy servant that thou should look upon such a dead dog as I am?

But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

Then Absalom said, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Why should he go with thee?

And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. And it was so, that, when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, Of what city are thou? And he said, Thy

Whereas thou came but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go where I may? Return thou, and take back thy brothers. Mercy and truth be with thee.

Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.

And again, whom should I serve? [Is it] not in the presence of his son? As I have served in thy father's presence, so I will be in thy presence.

And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand [pieces of] silver in my hand, yet I would not put forth my hand against the king's son, for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware th

And he said to the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity to me, neither remember thou that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

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

For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet thou set thy servant among those who ate at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?

And 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?

I am this day eighty years old. Can I discern between good and bad? Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should thy servant be yet a burden to my

Thy servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king, and why should the king recompense it to me with such a reward?

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 had first in bringing back our king

And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy.

And they said to the king, The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel,

And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this, [to drink] the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.