A week later, the child died, and David's staff was afraid to tell him that the child had died. They were telling themselves, "Look, when the child was still alive, we talked to him but he wouldn't listen to what we said. Now what kind of trouble will he bring on himself if we tell him that the child has died?"

At this, David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the LORD's tent to worship. Then he went back to his palace where, at his request, they served him food and he ate.

His staff asked him, "What's this about? When the child was alive, you fasted and cried. Now that the child has died, you get up and eat!"

But now that he has died, what's the point of fasting? Can I bring him back again? I'll be going to be with him, but he won't be returning to me."

so call out the rest of the army, attack the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I'll take the city myself and name it after me."

So David mustered his entire army and marched on Rabbah, attacked it, and captured it.

He confiscated the crown of their king from his head it weighed one talent in gold and was set with precious stones and it was placed on David's head. He confiscated a great amount of war booty that had been plundered from the city,

brought back the people who had lived in it, placing them under conscripted labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. He did this to every Ammonite city, and then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

Amnon became so emotionally distressed that he fell sick over his half-sister Tamar. She was a virgin, and Amnon found it difficult to do anything to her.

Jonadab advised him, "Lie down and pretend to be sick. When your father visits you, ask him, "Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat that she prepares especially for me, and after she makes dinner for me, let her feed it to me personally.'"

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to visit him, Amnon asked the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make some of her bread especially for me, so she can feed it to me personally."

So David sent for Tamar back at the palace, telling her, "Please go to your brother Amnon's home and prepare some food for him."

Tamar went to her brother Amnon's home, where he was lying down. She brought along some dough, kneaded it, prepared some cakes especially for him, baked them,

and emptied the baking skillet just for him, but he refused to eat.

"Send everybody out of here," Amnon said. So everyone left the room. Amnon told Tamar, "Bring the food into my private bedroom, so I can eat it with you personally." So Tamar took the cakes she had prepared and brought them into the private bedroom for her brother Amnon.

But as soon as she brought them near him to eat, he overpowered her and told her, "Come here and have sex with me, my sister!"

And what about me? Where will I go to escape this disgrace? And as for you, you'll be known as one of Israel's greatest fools! So please talk to the king, because he won't withhold me from you!"

But he was unwilling to listen to what she was saying. Since he was stronger than she was, he forced her into having sex with him.

Even so, she tried to tell him, "No! After all, it's more wrong to send me away than what you just did to me!"

But he was unwilling to listen to her. So he called out to a young man who was serving him, and told him: "Send this woman away from me and lock the door after her."

Now she was clothed in a long sleeved, multi-colored ornamental tunic, commonly worn by the king's virgin daughters. When Amnon's servant threw her out and locked the door after her,

When King David heard all about these developments, he flew into a rage over it.

Jonadab told the king, "Look! Here come the king's sons. This thing has turned out just like your servant reported."

Just as he finished his comments, the king's sons arrived, crying loudly. At this, with tears overflowing, the king and his entire staff wept bitterly.

Then go to the king and speak to him like this"" Then Joab told her what to say.

The king asked her, "What's your problem?"

"I've been a widowed woman ever since my husband died," she answered. "Your humble servant used to have two sons, but they got into a fight out in the field. Because there was no one to keep them apart, one of them attacked the other and killed him.

At this, the woman responded, "Would your majesty the king please allow your humble servant to say one more thing?" "Say it"" he replied.

"Why, then," the woman asked, "are you planning to act just like this against God's people? Based on what your majesty has said, you're acting like one who is guilty himself, because you're not bringing back the one whom you've banished!

After all, even though we all die, and we're all like water being spilled on the ground that cannot be recovered, nevertheless God doesn't take away life, but carries out his plans so as not to cast away permanently from him those who are presently estranged.

"Now as to why I've come to speak with your majesty the king, it's because the people have made me afraid, so your humble servant told herself, "I'll go speak to the king, so perhaps the king will do what his humble servant has requested.

Perhaps the king will listen and deliver his humble servant from the oppression of the man who intends to eliminate both me and my son from what God has apportioned to us!'

"So your humble servant is saying, "Please, your majesty, let what the king has to say be of comfort, because just as the angel of God is, so also is your majesty the king to discern both good and evil. And may the LORD your God remain present with you.'"

"As your soul lives, your majesty, the king," the woman answered, "no one can divert anything left or right from what your majesty the king has spoken! As a matter of fact, it was your servant Joab! He was there, giving me precise orders about everything that your humble servant was to say. Your servant Joab did this, intending to change the outcome of this matter. Nevertheless, your majesty is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to be aware of everything that's going on throughout the earth."

At this, Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrating himself to bless the king, and then said, "Today your servant realizes that he's found favor with you, your majesty, in that the king has acted on the request of his servant."

Whenever he cut his hair he cut it at the end of every year, because it grew thick on his head, which is why he cut it his hair weighed in at 200 shekels measured by the royal standard.

So Absalom told his servants, "Observe that Joab's grain field lies next to mine. He has barley planted there. Go set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire.

At this, Joab got up, went to Absalom's home, and demanded of him, "Why did your servants set fire to my grain field?"

In answer to Joab, Absalom replied, "Look, I sent for you, telling you "Come here so I can send you to the king to ask him "What's the point in moving here from Geshur? I would have been better off to have remained there!"' So let me see the king's face, and if I'm guilty of anything, let him execute me!"

So when Joab approached the king and told him what Absalom had said, he summoned Absalom, who then came to the king and fell to the ground on his face in front of him. Then the king kissed Absalom.

Then he would get up early, stand near the passageway to the palace gate, and when anyone arrived to file a legal complaint for a hearing before the king, Absalom would call to him and ask, "You're from what city?" If he replied, "Your servant is from one of Israel's tribes,"

Who will appoint me to be a judge in the land? When anyone arrived to file a legal complaint or other cause, he could approach me for justice and I would settle it!"

Furthermore, if a man approached him to bow down in front of him, he would put out his hand, grab him, and embrace him.

And so it was that forty years after Israel had demanded a king, Absalom asked the king, "Please let me go to Hebron so I can pay my vow that I made to the LORD,

because when I was living at Geshur in Aram, your servant made this solemn promise: "If the LORD ever brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.'"

Meanwhile, 200 men left Jerusalem with Absalom. They had been invited to go along, but were innocent, not knowing anything about what was happening.

So David told all of his staff who were with him in Jerusalem, "Let's get up and get out of here! Otherwise, none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry, or he'll overtake us quickly, bring disaster on all of us, and execute the inhabitants of the city!"

The king left, along with all of his people with him, and they paused at the last house.

Then the king suggested to Ittai the Gittite, "Why should you have to go with us? Return and stay with the new king, since you're a foreigner and exile. Stay where you want to stay.

It seems only yesterday that you arrived, so should I make you wander around with us while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your brothers with you. May gracious love and truth accompany you!"

"As the LORD lives," Ittai answered in reply, "and as your majesty the king lives, wherever your majesty my king may be whether living or dying that's where your servant will be!"

So David replied, "Come along, then!" So Ittai the Gittite went along also, accompanied by all of his men and all of his little ones.

With all of the people in the territory crying loudly, everybody passed over the Kidron brook, along with the king. Then everyone headed out toward the road that leads to the wilderness.

The king told Zadok, "Take the Ark of God back to the city. If I'm shown favor in the LORD's sight, then he'll bring me back again and show me both it and the place where it rests.

Look! I'll camp at the wilderness fords until you send word to inform me."

The king asked Ziba, "What are those for?" Ziba replied, "The donkeys are for the king's household to ride, the bread and summer fruit are for your young men to eat, and the wine is for whoever wants to drink if they get weary in the wilderness."

Later on, as King David approached Bahurim, Gera's son Shimei, who was related to the family of Saul's household, went out to meet David, cursing continually as he approached.

He threw rocks at David and all of David's staff who were accompanying him, while all the rest of the entourage, including all of David's security detail, were close by him.

"Get out of here! Get out!" Shimei yelled as he cursed. "You murderer! You who think you're above the law!

At this point, Zeruiah's son Abishai asked the king, "Why should this dead dog be cursing your majesty the king? May I have permission to go over and cut off his head?"

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?'"

So David and his entourage went on their way, and Shimei walked along the hillside with him, cursing, throwing rocks, and tossing dirt at David as they went along.

Eventually, the king and his entourage arrived exhausted at their destination, and David refreshed himself there.

So Absalom asked Ahithophel, "What's your advice? What should we do?"

Even though this plan seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all of the elders of Israel,

Absalom replied, "Call in Hushai the Archite so I can hear what he has to say, too!"

When Hushai approached Absalom, Absalom asked him, "Here's what Ahithophel had to advise. Should we do what he says? Or if not, say so!"

"Ahithophel's advice is not best at this time," Hushai suggested to Absalom.

"You know how strong your father and his men are. They're as mad as a bear robbed of her cubs! Furthermore, your father is a skilled warrior. He won't stay with his army at night.

Look! He's probably already hiding in a cave or someplace like that. If the first attack fails, people will hear about it and think, "Absalom's army is losing!'

If he escapes into a city, we'll bring ropes to that city and tear it down! We won't leave a single stone left in the valley!"

But the LORD had planned to circumvent the sound advice of Ahithophel so the LORD could bring Absalom to destruction. So Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, what Ahithophel had suggested to Absalom and the elders of Israel. He also reported what he himself had proposed. Hushai said,

Now Ahithophel's advice that he provided at that time was being compared to one who inquired of God, so highly regarded was Ahithophel's counsel by both David and Absalom.

Meanwhile, since they could not risk being seen entering the city, Jonathan and Ahimaaz had been waiting at En-rogel, where a young servant woman was to go to inform them and they would then go brief King David.

But a young man observed Jonathan and Ahimaaz and informed Absalom, so they left in a hurry, arrived at the home of a man who lived at Bahurim, and hid inside a well that was in his courtyard.

The man's wife grabbed a sheet, covered the mouth of the well with it, and spread some dried grain over it. As a result, nobody could tell it was a hiding place.

A little while later, the men crawled up out of the well and went off to talk to King David. They told David, "Get up! Cross the water quickly, because this is what Ahithophel advised about you""

Later, David arrived at Mahanaim. Absalom and all of the Israelis who supported him crossed the Jordan River.

When David arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi (Nahash's son from the Ammonite town of Rabbah), Makir (Ammiel's son from Lo-debar), and Barzillai (from Rogelim in Gilead) were already there.

They brought along bedding, bowls, clay basins, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grains, beans, peas,

Dividing his forces into three groups, he set Joab as commander of one third of his army, Zeruiah's son Abishai, Joab's brother, as commander of another third, and Ittai from Gath as commander of another third. The king informed the army, "I'm going out to battle with you, too."

So David responded, "I'll do what you think best." Then he stood alongside the city gate as the army went out in battle array by hundreds and thousands.

As they were going out, the king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "Treat young Absalom gently for my sake." Everyone heard what the king had ordered his commanders about Absalom.

Absalom happened to run into David's soldiers. While Absalom was trying to get away on his mule, it ran under the thick branches of a giant oak tree, and Absalom's head got caught in the tree! As his mule ran out from under him, Absalom was left hanging above the ground.

When one of the soldiers saw what had happened, he told Joab, "I saw Absalom stuck in an oak tree!"

Joab asked the man who was reporting to him, "What! You saw him? Why didn't you kill him right then and there? I would've given you ten pieces of silver and a warrior's sash!"

But the soldier replied to Joab, "I wouldn't have touched the king's son even if you dropped 1,000 pieces of silver right into my hands, because we heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, "Watch how you treat the young man Absalom!'

If I had taken his life, the king would have uncovered everything about it, and you would never have protected me!"

"There's no reason to wait for you!" Joab retorted. Then he took three spears in his hand and stabbed Absalom in the heart while he was still alive, dangling from the branches of the oak tree.

At this, Joab sounded his battle trumpet and his troops stopped pursuing the other Israelis.

Meanwhile, Joab's army grabbed Absalom's body, tossed it into a large pit in the forest, and filled it up with a huge pile of rocks. Then the Israelis ran away back to their homes.

While Absalom had been living, he had erected a pillar as a monument to himself in King's Valley because he had been telling himself, "I don't have a son to carry on my family name." So he named the pillar after himself it's called Absalom's Monument even today.

But Joab answered Ahimaaz, "You're not the man to deliver news today. Do it any other time, but not today, because the king's son is dead."

So Joab ordered a man from Ethiopia, "Go tell the king what you've seen." So the Ethiopian saluted Joab and then ran to tell David.

"Please," Zadok's son Ahimaaz continued, "No matter what happens, let me follow the Ethiopian!" Joab asked him, "Why this request to run, my son? There's no reward in it for you."

"No matter what, I'm running," Ahimaaz replied. So Joab told Ahimaaz, "Run!" And Ahimaaz ran, taking the Jordan Valley road, passing the Ethiopian.

So the watchman called out his news to the king.

The king responded, "If he's alone, he's bringing some news to report." As the man continued to draw near and approach the palace, the watchman observed another man running. So he called out to the gatekeeper, "There's another man running by himself!" The king replied, "He's also bringing some news to report!"

Then the watchman observed, "It looks to me that the runner out in front is running like Zadok's son Ahimaaz!" The king replied, "This is a good man bearing good news!"

"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."