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.

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,

Tamar rubbed her head with ashes, tore her tunic that she was wearing, put her hand to her head, and ran off, crying aloud as she went away.

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

Absalom had gone to the king to ask him, "I've brought some men to shear the sheep. Won't you please come and join me, along with your senior staff?"

But Absalom kept begging David until he sent Amnon and all of David's sons to accompany Absalom.

Then Absalom instructed his young men, "Please keep watching Amnon until he's drunk. Then I'll tell you, "Attack Amnon!' As soon as I do, kill him and don't be afraid! You have your orders, so be strong and brave!"

So Absalom's young men did to Amnon just as they had been ordered, but the rest of David's sons jumped up, mounted their mules, and escaped.

While they were still on the road, this rumor came to David: "Absalom has struck down all of the king's sons and none of them has survived."

David arose, ripped his clothes in anguish, and collapsed to the ground while all of his staff stood by with their own clothes torn.

Meanwhile, Absalom had run away. While the young man standing watch was looking around, all of a sudden he observed many people coming down the road behind and to the west of the mountain! So the watchman left his post and reported, "I have seen men coming from the direction of Horonaim."

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.

so he sent messengers to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, "Please play the role of a mourner, wear the clothes of a mourner, and refrain from using makeup. Act like a woman who's been in mourning for the dead for many days.

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

"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.

Now please pay attention closely! My whole family is attacking your humble servant! They're saying, "Turn over the one who attacked his brother and we'll put him to death in retribution for his brother, whose life he took. That way, we'll kill the heir also!' They're going to extinguish the only light left in my family, leaving my late husband neither an ongoing name nor a survivor on the face of the earth!"

Then the king replied to the woman, "Go home and I'll issue a special order just for you."

But the woman from Tekoa told the king, "Your majesty, let any guilt for this be on me and on my ancestors' household, and not on my king or his throne!"

The king replied, "Bring anyone who talks to you about this to me, and he certainly won't be bothering you anymore!"

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.

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.'"

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."

Then Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.

Nevertheless, the king said, "Let him return to his own home and not show his face to me." So Absalom returned to his own home and did not show his face to the king.

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.

Absalom fathered three sons and one daughter, whom he named Tamar. She was a beautiful woman, both in form and appearance.

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.

Sometime later, Absalom acquired a chariot equipped with horses and recruited 50 men to accompany him.

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,"

Absalom would respond, "Look, your claims are valid and defensible, but nobody will listen to you on behalf of the king.

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,

The king replied to him, "Go in peace!" So Absalom got up and left for Hebron.

Absalom also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, to come from his home town of Giloh while Absalom was presenting the sacrificial offerings. And so the conspiracy widened, because the common people increasingly sided with Absalom.

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.

All of his staff were going on ahead of him that is, all of the special forces and mercenaries, all of the Gittites, and 600 men who had come to serve him from Gath, went on ahead of the king.

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.

Meanwhile, Zadok showed up also, along with all of the descendants of Levi with him, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God. They set down the Ark of God and Abiathar approached while all the people finished abandoning the city.

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.

The king also asked Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer, too? Go back to the city in comfort, along with your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan.

So Zadok and Abiathar returned the Ark of God to Jerusalem and remained there.

David then left, going up the Mount of Olives, crying as he went, with his head covered and his feet bare. All of the people who were with him covered their own heads and climbed up the Mount of Olives, crying as they went along.

Just then, someone told David, "Ahithophel is one of Absalom's conspirators!" So David prayed, "LORD, please turn Ahithophel's counsel into foolishness."

Just as David was coming to the top of the Mount of Olives where God was being worshipped, there was Hushai the Archite to meet him, with his coat ripped and dust all over his head!

So go back to the city and tell Absalom, "I'll be your servant, your majesty! Just as I served your father in the past, I can be your servant now.' That way you can manipulate Ahithophel's advice to my benefit.

Won't Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? So whatever you hear from the king's palace, you're to report to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Their two sons Zadok's son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan are with them there. You'll be sending me everything that you hear through them."

So David's friend Hushai went back to the city just as Absalom was arriving in Jerusalem.

Now just as David happened to have passed the summit of the Mount of Olives, suddenly Mephibosheth's servant Ziba met him, accompanied by a couple of saddled donkeys loaded with 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of raisins, 100 pieces of summer fruit, and a skin of wine!

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.

The LORD has repaid you personally for murdering the entire dynasty of Saul, whose place you've taken to reign! And the LORD has given the kingdom into your son Absalom's control. Now look! Your own evil has caught up with you, because you're guilty of murder!"

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 ordered Abishai and all of his staff: "Look! My own son wants to kill me! How much more now is this descendant of Benjamin? Leave him alone and let him go on cursing, because the LORD has ordered him to do this.

Perhaps the LORD will take note of my troubles and return good to me instead of curses today!"

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.

Right about then, Absalom and his entourage from the people of Israel entered Jerusalem, accompanied by Ahithophel.

Hushai replied, "No! On the contrary, whomever the LORD, this group, and all the men of Israel choose is where I'll be, and I'll remain with him!

Ahithophel responded, "Go inside and have sex with your father's mistresses, whom he left to keep the palace in order. Then everyone in Israel will hear how your father has come to hate you and everyone who has joined you will be emboldened to act."

So they erected a tent for Absalom on the palace roof and Absalom went in and had sex with his father's mistresses right in front of all Israel.

"I'll catch him while he is still tired and weak. I'll frighten him so all his people with him desert him. But I'll only kill the king.

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

"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!'

Then even men who would otherwise be as brave as lions will be scared, because every Israeli knows your father is a mighty man, and they know his men are valiant!

So here's my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You'll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you'll go into battle!

We'll go find David wherever he's hiding. We'll fall on him like dew on the ground! We'll kill him and all of his men, and we won't leave even one man alive!

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!"

Absalom and all of the Israelis replied, "The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel's!"

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.

"Give me 12,000 men! I'll leave tonight and pursue David," Ahithophel advised Absalom.

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.

When Absalom's servants approached the woman of the house, they asked her, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" "They've already crossed the brook," the woman answered. So Absalom's servants went away in search of Jonathan and Ahimaaz, but they couldn't find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

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""

So David got up and all of his entourage crossed the Jordan River. Everyone had crossed the Jordan River by dawn's first light.

Meanwhile, when Ahithophel observed that his counsel was not being acted upon, he saddled his donkey, got up, and left for his hometown. Leaving behind a set of orders for his household, he hanged himself. After his death he was buried in his father's tomb.

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