² And the king said to Ziba, “What do you mean to do with these?”

So Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for ^(A)those who are faint in the wilderness to drink.”

²⁹ honey and curds, sheep and cheese of the herd, for David and the people who were with him to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty ^(A)in the wilderness.”

⁴ Now he had thirty sons who ^(A)rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, ^(B)which are called ^[a]“Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

¹⁸ “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ^(A)‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’—

²⁶ And he answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go to the king,’ because your servant is lame.

²³ And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people crossed over. The king himself also crossed over the Brook Kidron, and all the people crossed over toward the way of the ^(A)wilderness.

Absalom’s Treason

15 After this ^(A)it happened that Absalom ^(B)provided himself with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.

²⁷ And now ^(A)this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.