And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: why should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?

And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Should Abner die as a fool dieth?

when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead! and he was in his own sight a messenger of good, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag to whom forsooth I should give a reward for his good tidings:

how much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? and should I not now demand his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?

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.

And 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?

Thou didst come yesterday, and should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go whither I can? Return and take back thy brethren. Mercy and truth be with thee!

And 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? should it not be in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.

But the people said, Thou shalt not go forth, for if we should in any case flee, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us; for thou art worth ten thousand of us; and now it is better that thou succour us out of the city.

And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand silver pieces in my hand, yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Take care, whoever it be of you, of the young man Absalom.

Or I should have acted falsely against mine own life, for there is no matter concealed from the king, and thou wouldest have set thyself against me.

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

And Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Should not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Jehovah's anointed?

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

For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; and thou didst set thy servant among them that eat at thine own table. What further right therefore have I? and for what should I 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 and what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? and why should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?

Thy servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king; and why should the king recompense it to me with this reward?

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 that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in all the borders of Israel,

And he said, Be it far from me, Jehovah, that I should do this thing! is it not the blood of the men that went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.