15It happened afterward that Absalom made himself a chariot with horses and fifty men running before him. ²Absalom used to rise early in the morning, and he stood beside^a the road at the gate; anyone^b who had a legal dispute to bring to the king for judgment Absalom would call to him and say, “Where are you from?”^c And he would say, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” ³Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your case is good and right, but for you there is no hearing with the king.” ⁴Then Absalom would say, “Oh, that someone would^d appoint me as judge in the land, that anyone^e might come to me who had a legal dispute or a case, and I would give him justice.” ⁵It happened whenever anyone drew near to do obeisance to him, that he would stretch his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. ⁶Absalom did like this to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts^f of the people of Israel.

⁷It happened at the end of four^g years that Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow which I have made to Yahweh in Hebron, ⁸for your servant made a vow while I was staying in Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If Yahweh will indeed let me return^h to Jerusalem, then I will worship Yahweh.’ ” ⁹Then the king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he got up and went to Hebron. ¹⁰Then Absalom sent scouts throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “When you hear the sound of the trumpet, you shall shout ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’ ”

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Footnotes

aLiterally “on hand of”
bLiterally “every man”
cLiterally “Where from this city are you?”
dLiterally “Who will …?”
eLiterally “every man”
fHebrew “heart”
gSo LXX, followed by Syriac and Vulgate; MT has “forty”
hLiterally (following Qere) “If returning Yahweh will return me”