2 Samuel 18–19

Chapter 18

Absalom Slain

¹Then David ¹numbered the people who were with him and ^aset over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

²David sent the people out, ^aone third under the ¹command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the command of ^bIttai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I myself will surely go out with you also.”

³But the people said, “^aYou should not go out; for if we indeed flee, they will not care about us; even if half of us die, they will not care about us. But ¹you are worth ten thousand of us; therefore now it is better that you be ready to help us from the city.”

⁴Then the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So ^athe king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and thousands.

⁵The king charged Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And ^aall the people heard when the king charged all the commanders concerning Absalom.

⁶Then the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle took place in ^athe forest of Ephraim.

⁷The people of Israel were ¹defeated there before the servants of David, and the slaughter there that day was great, 20,000 men.

⁸For the battle there was spread over the whole countryside, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

⁹Now Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. For Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. And ^ahis head caught fast in the oak, so he was ¹left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him kept going.

¹⁰When a certain man saw it, he told Joab and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”

¹¹Then Joab said to the man who had told him, “Now behold, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? And I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.”

¹²The man said to Joab, “Even if I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not put out my hand against the king’s son; for ^ain our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘¹Protect for me the young man Absalom!’

¹³“Otherwise, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and ^athere is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.”

¹⁴Then Joab said, “I will not ¹waste time here with you.” ^aSo he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the ²midst of the oak.

¹⁵And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor gathered around and struck Absalom and killed him.

¹⁶Then ^aJoab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained the people.

¹⁷They took Absalom and cast him into ¹a deep pit in the forest and ^aerected over him a very great heap of stones. And ^ball Israel fled, each to his tent.

¹⁸Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and ^aset up for himself a pillar which is in ^bthe King’s Valley, for he said, “^cI have no son ¹to preserve my name.” So he named the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

David Is Grief-stricken

¹⁹Then ^aAhimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and bring the king news ^bthat the Lord has ¹freed him from the hand of his enemies.”

²⁰But Joab said to him, “You are not the man to carry news this day, but you shall carry news another day; however, you shall carry no news today because the king’s son is dead.”

²¹Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

²²Now Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said once more to Joab, “But whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite.” And Joab said, “Why would you run, my son, since ^ayou will have no reward for going?”

²³“But whatever happens,” he said, “I will run.” So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and passed up the Cushite.

²⁴Now ^aDavid was sitting between the two gates; and ^bthe watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man running by himself.

²⁵The watchman called and told the king. And the king said, “If he is by himself there is good news in his mouth.” And he came nearer and nearer.

²⁶Then the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, another man running by himself.” And the king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”

²⁷The watchman said, “I ¹think the running of the first one ^ais like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, “^bThis is a good man and comes with good news.”

²⁸Ahimaaz called and said to the king, “¹All is well.” And ^ahe prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground. And he said, “^bBlessed is the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”

²⁹The king said, “^aIs it well with the young man Absalom?” And Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, and your servant, I saw a great tumult, but ^bI did not know what it was.”

³⁰Then the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

³¹Behold, the Cushite arrived, and the Cushite said, “Let my lord the king receive good news, for ^athe Lord has ¹freed you this day from the hand of all those who rose up against you.”

³²Then the king said to the Cushite, “^aIs it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, “^bLet the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you for evil, be as that young man!”

³³¹The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And thus he said as he walked, “^aO my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! ^bWould I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Chapter 19

Joab Reproves David’s Lament

¹Then it was told Joab, “Behold, ^athe king is weeping and mourns for Absalom.”

²The ¹victory that day was turned to mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king is grieved for his son.”

³So the people went by stealth into the city that day, as people who are humiliated steal away when they flee in battle.

⁴The king ^acovered his face and ¹cried out with a loud voice, “^bO my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

⁵Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines,

⁶by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you. For you have shown today that ¹princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then ²you would be pleased.

⁷“Now therefore arise, go out and speak ¹kindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, surely ^anot a man will pass the night with you, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”

David Restored as King

⁸So the king arose and sat in the gate. When they told all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is ^asitting in the gate,” then all the people came before the king.

Now ^bIsrael had fled, each to his tent.

⁹All the people were quarreling throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “^aThe king delivered us from the ¹hand of our enemies and ^bsaved us from the hand of the Philistines, but now ^che has fled out of the land from Absalom.

¹⁰“However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now then, why are you silent about bringing the king back?”

¹¹Then King David sent to ^aZadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house?

¹²‘You are my brothers; ^ayou are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’

¹³“Say to ^aAmasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? ^bMay God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be ^ccommander of the army before me continually ^din place of Joab.’ ”

¹⁴Thus he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah ^aas one man, so that they sent word to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.”

¹⁵The king then returned and came as far as the Jordan. And Judah came to ^aGilgal in order to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.

¹⁶Then ^aShimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

¹⁷There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, with ^aZiba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they rushed to the Jordan before the king.

¹⁸Then they kept crossing the ford to bring over the king’s household, and to do what was good in his sight. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan.

¹⁹So he said to the king, “^aLet not my lord consider me guilty, nor remember what your servant did wrong on the day when my lord the king came out from Jerusalem, so that the king would ¹take it to heart.

²⁰“For your servant knows that I have sinned; therefore behold, I have come today, ^athe first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”

²¹But Abishai the son of Zeruiah said, “^aShould not Shimei be put to death for this, ^bbecause he cursed the Lord’s anointed?”

²²David then said, “^aWhat have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be an adversary to me? ^bShould any man be put to death in Israel today? For do I not know that I am king over Israel today?”

²³The king said to Shimei, “^aYou shall not die.” Thus the king swore to him.

²⁴Then ^aMephibosheth the ¹son of Saul came down to meet the king; and ^bhe had neither ²cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor ^cwashed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in…