2 Samuel 15-16

Common English Bible

Absalom plots rebellion

15 Some time later, Absalom got a chariot and horses for his own use, along with fifty men to run ahead of him. ² Absalom would get up early and stand by the side of the road that went through the city gate. Whenever anyone had a lawsuit to bring before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him, “What city are you from?” When the person said, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,” ³ then Absalom would say to him, “No doubt your claims are correct and valid, but the king won’t listen to you. ⁴ If only I were made a judge in the land,” Absalom would continue, “then anyone with a lawsuit could come to me, and I would give them justice.”

⁵ Whenever anyone came near to Absalom, bowing low out of respect, he would reach his hand out, grab them, and kiss them. ⁶ This is how Absalom treated every Israelite who came to the king seeking justice. This is how Absalom stole the hearts of the Israelites.

⁷ At the end of four^[a] years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron so I can fulfill a promise I made to the Lord. ⁸ Your servant made this promise when I lived in Geshur, in Aram. I promised that if the Lord would bring me back to Jerusalem, then I would worship the Lord in Hebron.”^[b]

⁹ “Go in peace,” the king said. So Absalom left and went to Hebron.

¹⁰ But Absalom sent secret agents throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’” ¹¹ Two hundred invited guests went with Absalom from Jerusalem. They were innocent and knew nothing of this matter when they went. ¹² While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he summoned David’s advisor Ahithophel, who was from Giloh, to come from his hometown. So the conspiracy grew stronger, and Absalom’s following grew.

David flees from Jerusalem

¹³ A messenger came to David, reporting, “The hearts of the Israelites have gone over to Absalom.” ¹⁴ Then David told all the servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come on! We have to run for it, or we won’t be able to escape Absalom. Hurry, or he will catch up with us in no time, destroy us,^[c] and attack the city with the sword.”

¹⁵ The king’s servants said to him, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our master the king decides.” ¹⁶ So the king left, with his entire household following him, but he left ten secondary wives behind to take care of the palace.

¹⁷ So the king left, with all his people following him, and they stopped at the last house. ¹⁸ All the king’s servants marched past him, as did all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites, and the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath. ¹⁹ The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you coming with us too? Go back! Stay with King Absalom.^[d] You are a foreigner and an exile from your own country. ²⁰ You just got here yesterday. So today should I make you wander around with us while I go wherever I have to go? No. Go back, and take your relatives with you. May the Lord show you loyal love and faithfulness.”^[e]

²¹ But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the Lord lives and as surely as my master the king lives, wherever my master the king may be, facing death or facing life, your servant will be there too.”

²² “Okay then,” David replied to Ittai. “Keep marching!”

So Ittai the Gittite and all of his men and all the little children with him marched past. ²³ The whole countryside cried loudly as all the troops marched past. The king crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the troops passed by on the Olive road^[f] into the wilderness.

²⁴ Zadok was there too, along with all the Levites carrying the chest containing God’s covenant. They set God’s chest down, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the troops had finished marching out of the city. ²⁵ Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry God’s chest back into the city. If the Lord thinks well of me, then he will bring me back and let me see it and its home again. ²⁶ But if God says, ‘I’m not pleased with you,’ then I am ready. Let him do to me whatever pleases him.”

²⁷ “Do you understand?” the king said to the priest Zadok. “Go back to the city in safety—you and Abiathar^[g] with your two sons, your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. ²⁸ I will be waiting in the desert plains until you send word telling me what to do.” ²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar took God’s chest back to Jerusalem and stayed there.

³⁰ But David, his head covered, walked barefoot up the slope of the Mount of Olives crying. All the people who were with him covered their heads too and cried as they went up. ³¹ David was told that Ahithophel was also among the conspirators with Absalom, so he prayed, “Please, Lord, make Ahithophel’s advice foolish.”

David and Hushai

³² When David came to the summit where people used to worship God, Hushai from Erek met him. Hushai’s clothes were ripped, and dirt was on his head. ³³ David said to him, “If you come with me, you will be a burden to me. ³⁴ But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘King, I am your servant!^[h] Please spare my life! I was your father’s servant in the past, but now I am your servant,’ then you can help me by countering Ahithophel’s advice. ³⁵ The priests Zadok and Abiathar will be with you there. So report everything you hear in the king’s palace to the priests Zadok and Abiathar. ³⁶ Their two sons, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan, are also there. Use them to report to me everything you hear.”

³⁷ So David’s friend Hushai went into Jerusalem, just as Absalom was entering the city.

David and Ziba

16 When David had passed a short distance beyond the summit, Ziba, Mephibosheth’s servant, met him with a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred bunches of raisins, one hundred figs,^[i] and a jar of wine.

² “What is all this for?” the king asked Ziba.

“The donkeys are for the royal family to ride,” Ziba explained. “The bread and summer fruit are for the young people to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the wilderness.”

³ “Where is your master’s grandson?” the king asked.

“He is still in Jerusalem,” Ziba answered the king, “because he thinks that the Israelites are now going to give his grandfather’s kingdom back to him.”

⁴ “Look here,” the king said to Ziba. “Everything that belonged to Mephibosheth now belongs to you.”

Ziba said, “I bow out of respect! Please think well of me, my master and king.”

Shimei curses David

⁵ When King David came to Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei; he was Gera’s son. He was cursing as he came out. ⁶ He threw rocks at David and at all of King David’s servants, even though the entire army and all the warriors were on either side of him.

⁷ This is what Shimei said as he cursed David: “Get out of here! Get out of here! You are a murderer! You are despicable! ⁸ The Lord has paid you back for all the blood of Saul’s family, in whose place you rule, and the Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You are in this trouble because you are a murderer!”

⁹ Zeruiah’s son Abishai said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my master the king? Let me go over and cut his head off!”

¹⁰ But the king said, “My problems aren’t yours, you sons of Zeruiah. If he is cursing because the Lord told him to curse David, then who is to question, ‘Why are you doing this?’”

¹¹ Then David addressed Abishai and all his servants: “Listen! My own son, one of my very own children, wants me dead. This Benjaminite can only feel the same—only more! Leave him alone. And let him curse, because the Lord told him to. ¹² Perhaps the Lord will see my distress; perhaps the Lord will repay me with good for this cursing today.”

¹³ So David and his men kept walking, while Shimei went along on the hillside next to him, cursing as he went, throwing rocks and dirt at him. ¹⁴ The king and all the people who were with him reached the Jordan River^[j] exhausted, and he rested there.

Ahithophel’s advice

¹⁵ Now Absalom and all the Israelites entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. ¹⁶ Then David’s friend Hushai, who was from Erek, approached Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

¹⁷ But Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this how you show loyal love to your friend? Why didn’t you go with him?”

¹⁸ “No,” Hushai replied to Absalom, “I will belong to the one chosen by the Lord, by this people, and by all Israel, and I will stay with him. ¹⁹ What’s more, whom should I serve if not David’s son? I served your father, and so I will serve you in the same way.”

²⁰ Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your advice then. What should we do?”

²¹ “Have sex with your father’s secondary wives—the ones he left to take care of the palace,” Ahithophel told Absalom. “Then all Israel will hear that you have alienated yourself from your father, and everyone who supports you will be encouraged.”

²² So they set up a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he had sex with his father’s secondary wives in plain sight before all Israel. (²³ Now in those days, the advice Ahithophel gave was like asking for a word from God. That’s why Ahithophel’s advice was valued by both David and Absalom.)