and Absalom sendeth Ahithophel the Gilonite, a counsellor of David, out of his city, out of Gilo, in his sacrificing sacrifices; and the conspiracy is strong, and the people are going and increasing with Absalom.

And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

And David saith to all his servants who are with him in Jerusalem, 'Rise, and we flee, for we have no escape from the face of Absalom; haste to go, lest he hasten, and have overtaken us, and forced on us evil, and smitten the city by the mouth of the sword.'

And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.

And all his servants are passing on at his side, and all the Cherethite, and all the Pelethite, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came at his feet from Gath, are passing on at the front of the king.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why should you come with us? Go back and stay with the new king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own country.

And David saith unto Ittai, 'Go and pass over;' and Ittai the Gittite passeth over, and all his men, and all the infants who are with him.

And all the land are weeping -- a great voice, and all the people are passing over; and the king is passing over through the brook Kidron, and all the people are passing over on the front of the way of the wilderness;

The king said to Zadok the priest, "Are you a seer? Go back to the city in peace! Your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan may go with you and Abiathar.

And David is going up in the ascent of the olives, going up and weeping, and he hath the head covered, and he is going barefooted, and all the people who are with him have covered each his head, and have gone up, going up and weeping;

Now David had been told, "Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom. So David prayed, "Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O Lord!"

Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So it shall be that whatever you hear from the king’s house, you shall report to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Furthermore, their two sons are there with them, Zadok's son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan. You must send them to me with any information you hear."

The king asked Ziba, "Why did you bring these things?" Ziba replied, "The donkeys are for the king's family to ride on, the loaves of bread and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert."

Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.

The Lord has punished you for all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!"

But the king responded, "What do I have in common with you sons of Zeruiah? If he continues to curse and if the LORD has told him, "Curse David!' then who are you to be demanding to know "Why have you done this?'"

And the king cometh in, and all the people who are with him, wearied, and they are refreshed there.

Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your opinion now, what are we to do?

And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.

And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. The entire army will return unharmed."

And when Hushai came, Absalom said to him, This is what Ahithophel has said: are we to do as he says? if not, what is your suggestion?

Hushai went on to say, "You know your father and his men -- they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

Behold, he has hidden himself [even] now in one of the ravines or in another place; and when some of your troops fall at the first attack, whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a defeat among the people who follow Absalom.’

And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.

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.

When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman replied to them, "They crossed over the stream." Absalom's men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

Then after the servants had gone away, they came up out of the water-hole and went to give King David the news; and they said, Get up and go quickly over the water, for such and such are Ahithophel's designs against you.

And David riseth, and all the people who are with him, and they pass over the Jordan, till the light of the morning, till one hath not been lacking who hath not passed over the Jordan.

honey, curds, flocks, and cheese. For they said, "The people are no doubt hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the desert."

And David inspecteth the people who are with him, and setteth over them heads of thousands and heads of hundreds,

But the soldiers replied, "You should not do this! For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won't be too concerned about us. Even if half of us should die, they won't be too concerned about us. But you are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support."

and smitten there are the people of Israel before the servants of David, and the smiting there is great on that day -- twenty thousand;

The battle there was spread out over the whole area, and the forest consumed more soldiers than the sword devoured that day.

Joab replied to him, “You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but today you aren’t taking good news, because the king’s son is dead.”

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again said to Joab, "{Come what may}, please let me also run after the Cushite." Joab asked, "Why [are] you wanting to run, my son, when for you there is no {messenger's reward}?"

So the watchman called out, and told the king. And the king said, If he is alone, there are tidings in his mouth. And he came on nearer and nearer.

"Are things fine with respect to the young man Absalom?" the king asked. Ahimaaz answered, "I saw a lot of confusion about the time Joab was getting ready to send the king's courier and me, your servant, but I'm not sure what was going on."

That day the people stole away to go to the city the way people who are embarrassed steal away in fleeing from battle.

For you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have shown today that commanders and servants are nothing to you; for today I know that if Absalom had lived and all the rest of us had died today, then you would be pleased.

And it cometh to pass, all the people are contending through all the tribes of Israel, saying, 'The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, yea, he himself delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he hath fled out of the land because of Absalom,

However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now then, why are you silent about bringing the king back?”

And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house.

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?

Say to Amasa, 'Are you not my flesh and blood? God will punish me severely, if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!'"

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.

But David said, "What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don't you realize that today I am king over Israel?"

And he said in answer, Because of the deceit of my servant, my lord king: for I, your servant, said to him, You are to make ready an ass and on it I will go with the king, for your servant has not the use of his feet.

The king said to him, “Why keep on speaking about these matters of yours? I hereby declare: you and Ziba are to divide the land.”

So the king said to Barzillai, "Cross over with me, and I will take care of you while you are with me in Jerusalem."

Barzillai replied to the king, “How many years of my life are left that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?

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?

Then the men of Israel came to the king and said, Why have our countrymen of Judah taken you away in secret and come over Jordan with the king and all his family, because all his people are David's men?

All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, "Because the king is our close relative! Why are you so upset about this? Have we eaten at the king's expense? Or have we misappropriated anything for our own use?"

And in answer to the men of Judah, the men of Israel said, We have ten parts in the king, and we are the first in order of birth: why did you make nothing of us? and were we not the first to make suggestions for getting the king back? And the words of the men of Judah were more violent than the words of the men of Israel.

And David cometh in unto his house at Jerusalem, and the king taketh the ten women-concubines -- whom he had left to keep the house, and putteth them in a house of ward, and sustaineth them, and unto them he hath not gone in, and they are shut up unto the day of their death, in widowhood living.

they are near the great stone that is in Gibeon, and Amasa hath gone before them, and Joab is girded; his long robe he hath put on him, and upon it a girdle -- a sword is fastened upon his loins in its sheath; and he hath gone out, and it falleth.

Joab said to Amasa, "How are you, my brother?" With his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa's beard as if to greet him with a kiss.

And he passeth over through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-Maachah, and to all the Berites, and they are assembled, and go in also after him,

and they go in and lay siege against him, in Abel of Beth-Maachah, and cast up a mount against the city, and it standeth in a trench, and all the people who are are with Joab are destroying, to cause the wall to fall.

When he approached her, the woman asked, "Are you Joab?" He replied, "I am." She said to him, "Listen to the words of your servant." He said, "Go ahead. I'm listening."

I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

That's not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city." The woman said to Joab, "This very minute his head will be thrown over the wall to you!"

And the woman cometh unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri, and cast it unto Joab, and he bloweth with a trumpet, and they are scattered from the city, each to his tents, and Joab hath turned back to Jerusalem unto the king.

and Sheva is scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar are priests,

One time there was a famine during David's reign that went on for three straight years. David sought the LORD, who said, "Saul and his household are guilty because he executed the Gibeonites."

And the king calleth for the Gibeonites, and saith unto them -- as to the Gibeonites, they are not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul seeketh to smite them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah --

The Gibeonites said to him, "We have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel." David asked, "What then are you asking me to do for you?"

But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his help, and, turning on the Philistine, gave him his death-blow. Then David's men took an oath, and said, Never again are you to go out with us to the fight, so that you may not put out the light of Israel.

And the battle is again in Gath, and there is a man of stature, and the fingers of his hands are six, and the toes of his feet are six, twenty and four in number, and he also hath been born to the giant,

This is what he said: LORD, you are my stone stronghold and my fortified place; you are continuously delivering me.

I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be praised; so will I be made safe from those who are against me.

And shake and tremble doth the earth, Foundations of the heavens are troubled, And are shaken, for He hath wrath!

And seen are the streams of the sea, Revealed are foundations of the world, By the rebuke of Jehovah, From the breath of the spirit of His anger.

They are before me in a day of my calamity, And Jehovah is my support,

He brought me to a wide open area, rescuing me because he was pleased with me!

The Lord gives me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean before him.

For all His judgments are before me, As to His statutes, I turn not from them.

Because of this the Lord has given me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean in his eyes.

He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge.

And the afflicted people thou dost save; And thine eyes are upon the haughty, whom thou bringest down.

Indeed, you are my lamp, Lord. The Lord illumines the darkness around me.

I pursue my enemies and destroy them;
I do not turn back until they are wiped out.

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

By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my haters are cut off.

You rescue me from a hostile army; you preserve me as a leader of nations; people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects.

Foreigners are powerless before me; when they hear of my exploits, they submit to me.

Now these are the last words of David: David the son of Jesse saith, And the man who was raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel saith,

is like the light of morning when the sun comes up, a morning in which there are no clouds. He is like the brightness after rain that produces grass from the earth.

But the sons of Belial are all of them as thorns thrust away, Because they cannot be taken with hands;

The one who touches them must use an iron instrument or the wooden shaft of a spear. They are completely burned up right where they lie!"

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Joseb-Bassebeth, Tachkemonite the chief of the captains: he was Adino the Eznite; he fought against eight hundred, slain by him at one time.

Next in command was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

But he made a stand in the middle of that area. He defended it and defeated the Philistines; the Lord gave them a great victory.

And three of the thirty heads go down and come unto the harvest, unto David, unto the cave of Adullam, and the company of the Philistines are encamping in the valley of Rephaim,

and saith, 'Far be it from me, O Jehovah, to do this; is it the blood of the men who are going with their lives?' and he was not willing to drink it; these things did the three mighty ones.

Benaiah from Pirathon, Hiddai from the Gaash creeks area,