Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

It happened at the end of four years, that Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hebron.

The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he arose, and went to Hebron.

But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.'"

The king's servants said to the king, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses."

The king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.

The king went forth, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak.

All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place.

Ittai answered the king, and said, "As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall is, whether for death or for life, even there also will your servant be."

All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.

The king said to Zadok, "Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation;

The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father's servant in time past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.'

Do you not have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore it shall be, that whatever thing you shall hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

The king said to Ziba, "What do you mean by these?" Ziba said, "The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as are faint in the wilderness may drink."

The king said, "Where is your master's son?" Ziba said to the king, "Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem; for he said, 'Today the house of Israel will restore me the kingdom of my father.'"

Then the king said to Ziba, "Behold, all that pertains to Mephibosheth is yours." Ziba said, "I do obeisance. Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king."

When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of the house of Saul came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out, and cursed still as he came.

He cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

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

The king said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because the LORD has said to him, 'Curse David;' who then shall say, 'Why have you done so?'"

The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there.

It happened, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, had come to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, "Long live the king. Long live the king."

I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him shall flee. I will strike the king only;

Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, 'Do not lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.'"

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city.

It happened, after they had departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, "Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you."

David sent forth the people, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, "I will surely go forth with you myself also."

The king said to them, "I will do what seems best to you." The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.

The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom." All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom.

The man said to Joab, "Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn't put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.'

Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me."

Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, "I have no son to keep my name in memory." He called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument, to this day.

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Let me now run, and bear the king news, how that the LORD has avenged him of his enemies."

Joab said to him, "You shall not be the bearer of news this day, but you shall bear news another day. But today you shall bear no news, because the king's son is dead."

Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, "If he is alone, there is news in his mouth." He came closer and closer.

The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper, and said, "Behold, a man running alone." The king said, "He also brings news."

The watchman said, "I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok." The king said, "He is a good man, and comes with good news."

Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, "All is well." He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, "Blessed is the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king."

The king said, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?" Ahimaaz answered, "When Joab sent the king's servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I do not know what it was."

The king said, "Turn aside, and stand here." He turned aside, and stood still.

Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, "News for my lord the king; for the LORD has avenged you this day of all those who rose up against you."

The king said to the Cushite, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?" The Cushite answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is."

The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. As he went, he said, "My son Absalom. My son, my son Absalom. I wish I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son."

It was told Joab, "Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom."

The victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people; for the people heard it said that day, "The king grieves for his son."

The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, "My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son."

Joab came into the house to the king, and said, "You have shamed this day the faces of all your servants, who this day have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines;

Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all the people, saying, "Behold, the king is sitting in the gate." All the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent.

All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you not speak a word of bringing the king back?"

King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? Since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house.

You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?'

He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as one man; so that they sent to the king, saying, "Return, you and all your servants."

So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.

Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.

There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king.

A ferry boat went to bring over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he had come over the Jordan.

He said to the king, "Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me, nor remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king."

David said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries to 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?"

The king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." The king swore to him.

Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither groomed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.

It happened, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?"

He answered, "My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may ride thereon, and go with the king; because your servant is lame.

He has slandered your servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God. Do therefore what is good in your eyes.

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

The king said to him, "Why do you speak any more of your matters? I say, you and Ziba divide the land."

Mephibosheth said to the king, "Yes, let him take all, because my lord the king has come in peace to his own house."

Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.

Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old: and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

The king said to Barzillai, "Come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem."

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 your 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 your servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?

Your servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?

Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good to you."

The king answered, "Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. Whatever you require of me, that I will do for you."

All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. Then the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place.

So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him. All the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.

Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, "Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David's men with him?"

All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's cost? Or has he given us any gift?"

The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, "We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?" The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

Then the king said to Amasa, "Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present."

The matter is not so. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city." The woman said to Joab, "Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall."

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);

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,

let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD." The king said, "I will give them."

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that God was entreated for the land.

He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore."

The king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people."

Joab said to the king, "Now may the LORD your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"

Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.