King James Version2 Samuel19

2 Samuel

1 And it was told Joab, Be­hold, the king weep­eth and mour­neth for Ab­sa­lom. 2 And the vic­to­ry that day was turned into mourn­ing unto all the peo­ple: for the peo­ple heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. 3 And the peo­ple gat them by stealth that day into the city, as peo­ple be­ing ashamed steal away when they flee in bat­tle. 4 But the king cov­ered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Ab­sa­lom, O Ab­sa­lom, my son, my son! 5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy ser­vants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daugh­ters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy con­cu­bines; 6 In that thou lovest thine en­e­mies, and hat­est thy friends. For thou hast de­clared this day, that thou re­gardest nei­ther princes nor ser­vants: for this day I per­ceive, that if Ab­sa­lom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. 7 Now there­fore arise, go forth, and speak com­fort­ably unto thy ser­vants: for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tar­ry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that be­fell thee from thy youth un­til now. 8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the peo­ple, say­ing, Be­hold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the peo­ple came be­fore the king: for Is­rael had fled ev­ery man to his tent. 9 And all the peo­ple were at strife through­out all the tribes of Is­rael, say­ing, The king saved us out of the hand of our en­e­mies, and he de­liv­ered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Ab­sa­lom. 10 And Ab­sa­lom, whom we anoint­ed over us, is dead in bat­tle. Now there­fore why speak ye not a word of bring­ing the king back? 11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abi­athar the priests, say­ing, Speak unto the el­ders of Ju­dah, say­ing, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? see­ing the speech of all Is­rael is come to the king, even to his house. 12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: where­fore then are ye the last to bring back the king? 13 And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more al­so, if thou be not cap­tain of the host be­fore me con­tin­u­al­ly in the room of Joab. 14 And he bowed the heart of all the men of Ju­dah, even as the heart of one man; so that they sent this word unto the king, Re­turn thou, and all thy ser­vants. 15 So the king re­turned, and came to Jor­dan. And Ju­dah came to Gil­gal, to go to meet the king, to con­duct the king over Jor­dan. 16 And Shimei the son of Gera, a Ben­jamite, which was of Bahurim, hast­ed and came down with the men of Ju­dah to meet king David. 17 And 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 over Jor­dan be­fore the king. 18 And there went over a fer­ry boat to car­ry over the king's house­hold, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down be­fore the king, as he was come over Jor­dan; 19 And said unto the king, Let not my lord im­pute in­iq­ui­ty unto 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 his heart. 20 For thy ser­vant doth 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. 21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah an­swered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, be­cause he cursed the LORD'S anoint­ed? 22 And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye 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? 23 There­fore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him. 24 And Mephi­bosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had nei­ther dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king de­part­ed un­til the day he came again in peace. 25 And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Where­fore wen­test not thou with me, Mephi­bosheth? 26 And he an­swered, My lord, O king, my ser­vant de­ceived me: for thy ser­vant said, I will sad­dle me an ass, that I may ride there­on, and go to the king; be­cause thy ser­vant is lame. 27 And he hath slan­dered thy ser­vant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an an­gel of God: do there­fore what is good in thine eyes. 28 For all of my father's house were but dead men be­fore my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy ser­vant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right there­fore have I yet to cry any more unto the king? 29 And the king said unto him, Why speak­est thou any more of thy mat­ters? I have said, Thou and Ziba di­vide the land. 30 And Mephi­bosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, foras­much as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house. 31 And Barzil­lai the Gilea­dite came down from Ro­ge­lim, and went over Jor­dan with the king, to con­duct him over Jor­dan. 32 Now Barzil­lai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had pro­vid­ed the king of sus­te­nance while he lay at Ma­hanaim; for he was a very great man. 33 And the king said unto Barzil­lai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. 34 And Barzil­lai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem? 35 I am this day fourscore years old: and can I dis­cern be­tween good and evil? can thy ser­vant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing wom­en? where­fore then should thy ser­vant be yet a bur­den unto my lord the king? 36 Thy ser­vant will go a lit­tle way over Jor­dan with the king: and why should the king rec­om­pense it me with such a re­ward? 37 Let thy ser­vant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my fa­ther and of my moth­er. But be­hold thy ser­vant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. 38 And the king an­swered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and what­so­ev­er thou shalt re­quire of me, that will I do for thee. 39 And all the peo­ple went over Jor­dan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzil­lai, and blessed him; and he re­turned unto his own place. 40 Then the king went on to Gil­gal, and Chimham went on with him: and all the peo­ple of Ju­dah con­duct­ed the king, and also half the peo­ple of Is­rael. 41 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 thee away, and have brought the king, and his house­hold, and all David's men with him, over Jor­dan? 42 And all the men of Ju­dah an­swered the men of Is­rael, Be­cause the king is near of kin to us: where­fore then be ye an­gry for this mat­ter? have we eat­en at all of the king's cost? or hath he giv­en us any gift? 43 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 ye: why then did ye de­spise us, that our ad­vice should not be first had in bring­ing back our king? And the words of the men of Ju­dah were fiercer than the words of the men of Is­rael.