Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.

And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again.

And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, Today your servant knows that I have found grace in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant.

Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come.

Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Why have your servants set my field on fire?

And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto you, saying, Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, Why am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.

And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray you, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron.

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

But if he thus says, I have no delight in you; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seems good unto him.

But if you return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in time past, so will I now also be your servant: then you may for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.

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

Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz Zadok's son, and Jonathan Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send unto me everything that you can hear.

The LORD has returned upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son: and, behold, you are taken in your mischief, because you are a bloody man.

And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD has said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Why have you done so?

And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in your father's presence, so will I be in your presence.

Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled.

And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, you saw him, and why did you not strike him there to the ground? and I would have given you ten shekels of silver, and a belt.

Otherwise I should have dealt falsely against my own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and you yourself would have set yourself against me.

Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's valley: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's pillar.

Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what you have seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, Come what may, let me, I pray you, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Why will you run, my son, seeing that you have no tidings ready?

And 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;

In that you love your enemies, and hate your friends. For you have declared this day, that you regard neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it would have pleased you well.

For your servant does know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.

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

For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet did you set your servant among them that did eat at your own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?

And the king said unto him, Why speak you any more of your matters? I have said, You and Ziba divide the land.

And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem?

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

And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us: why then are you angry for this matter? have we eaten at all of the king's cost? or has he given us any gift?

And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than you: why then did you despise us, since our advice was first in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shall you kill any man in Israel. And he said, What you shall say, that will I do for you.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from my iniquity.

For by you I can run against a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your gentleness has made me great.

You have enlarged my path under me; so that my feet did not slip.

I have pursued my enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.

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

For you have girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me have you subdued under me.

You have also given me the necks of my enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.

You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people, you have kept me to be head of the nations: a people whom I knew not shall serve me.

And that brings me forth from my enemies: you also have lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man.

And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in what I have done: and now, I beseech you, O LORD, take away the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.

And David spoke unto the LORD when he saw the angel that struck the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let your hand, I pray you, be against me, and against my father's house.

And his father had not rebuked him at any time in saying, Why have you done so? and he also was a very handsome man; and his mother bore him after Absalom.

Therefore Nathan spoke unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith does reign, and David our lord knows it not?

And Nathan said, My lord, O king, have you said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?

Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you have not showed it unto your servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

Then you shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my place: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

And the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king's mule:

And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city resounds with it. This is the noise that you have heard.

And, behold, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword.

He said moreover, I have somewhat to say unto you. And she said, Say on.

And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get you to Anathoth, unto your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you have been afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.

And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make you to swear by the LORD, and admonished you, saying, Know for a certain, on the day you go out, and travel anywhere, that you shall surely die? and you said unto me, The word that I have heard is good.

Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged you with?

And Solomon said, You have shown unto your servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; and you have kept for him this great kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

And God said unto him, Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life; neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies; but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;

Behold, I have done according to your words: lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like unto you.

And I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches, and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto you all your days.

And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which you sent to me: and I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

I have surely built you a house to dwell in, a settled place for you to abide in forever.

And the LORD has performed his word that he spoke, and I am risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Who has kept with your servant David my father what you promised him: you spoke also with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.

Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that your children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as you have walked before me.

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?

Yet have you respect unto the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which your servant prays before you today:

That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, My name shall be there: that you may hearken unto the prayer which your servant shall make toward this place.

When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray, and make supplication unto you in this house:

When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them:

Then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, that you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

Hear you in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for: that all people of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by your name.

If your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you shall send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name:

Yet if they shall come to themselves in the land where they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto you in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

And so return unto you with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto you toward their land, which you gave unto their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name:

And forgive your people that have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:

And the LORD said unto him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

And if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my judgments:

But if you shall at all turn from following me, you or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have laid hold upon other gods, and have worshiped them, and served them: therefore has the LORD brought upon them all this evil.

And he said, What cities are these which you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.

Therefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Since this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.

However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to your son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what have you lacked with me, that, behold, you seek to go to your own country? And he answered, Nothing: only let me go anyway.

(But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)

Because they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.

And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put my name there.

And he said unto them, What counsel give you that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which your father did put upon us lighter?

So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to your own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.

And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD, Because you have disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,

But came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to you, Eat no bread, and drink no water; your carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of your fathers.

And tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you: and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes;

But have done evil above all that were before you: for you have gone and made you other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back: