2 Samuel 15-16

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 15

Absalom’s Ambition. ¹ After this, Absalom provided himself with chariots, horses, and a retinue of fifty.^{(A) 2} Moreover, Absalom used to rise early and stand alongside the road leading to the gate. If someone had a lawsuit to be decided by the king, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he replied, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe of Israel,” ³ Absalom would say to him, “Your case is good and just, but there is no one to hear you in the king’s name.” ⁴ And he would continue: “If only I could be appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a lawsuit to be decided might come to me and I would render him justice.” ⁵ Whenever a man approached him to show homage, he would extend his hand, hold him, and kiss him. ⁶ By behaving in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king for judgment, Absalom was stealing the heart of Israel.

Conspiracy in Hebron. ⁷ After a period of four years, Absalom said to the king: “Please let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. ⁸ For while living in Geshur in Aram, your servant made this vow: ‘If the Lord ever brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship him in Hebron.’”^{(B) 9} The king said to him, “Go in peace,” and he went off to Hebron. ¹⁰ Then Absalom sent agents throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “When you hear the sound of the horn, say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’” ¹¹ Two hundred men had accompanied Absalom from Jerusalem. They had been invited and went in all innocence, knowing nothing. ¹² Absalom also sent to Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, an invitation to come from his town, Giloh, for the sacrifices he was about to offer. So the conspiracy gained strength, and the people with Absalom increased in numbers.^(C)

David Flees Jerusalem. ¹³ An informant came to David with the report, “The Israelites have given their hearts to Absalom,^(D) and they are following him.” ¹⁴ At this, David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem: “Get up, let us flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave at once, or he will quickly overtake us, and then bring disaster upon us, and put the city to the sword.” ¹⁵ The king’s servants answered him, “Whatever our lord the king chooses to do, we are your servants.” ¹⁶ Then the king set out, accompanied by his entire household, except for ten concubines whom he left behind to care for the palace.^{(E) 17} As the king left the city, with all his officers accompanying him, they halted opposite the ascent of the Mount of Olives, at a distance, ¹⁸ while the whole army marched past him.

David and Ittai. As all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and the six hundred Gittites who had entered his service from that city, were passing in review before the king,^{(F) 19} the king said to Ittai the Gittite: “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and you, too, are an exile from your own country. ²⁰ You came only yesterday, and today shall I have you wander off with us wherever I have to go? Return and take your brothers with you, and may the Lord show you kindness and fidelity.” ²¹ But Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, your servant shall be wherever my lord the king is, whether for death or for life.”^{(G) 22} So the king said to Ittai, “Go, then, march on.” And Ittai the Gittite, with all his men and all the dependents that were with him, marched on. ²³ The whole land wept aloud as the last of the soldiers went by, and the king crossed the Wadi Kidron with all the soldiers moving on ahead of him by way of the ascent of the Mount of Olives, toward the wilderness.

David and the Priests. ²⁴ Zadok, too, and all the Levites bearing the ark of the covenant of God set down the ark of God until the whole army had finished marching out of the city; and Abiathar came up. ²⁵ Then the king said to Zadok: “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor with the Lord, he will bring me back and permit me to see it and its lodging place. ²⁶ But if he should say, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ I am ready; let him do to me as he sees fit.”^{(H) 27} The king also said to Zadok the priest: “Look, you and Abiathar return to the city in peace, and both your sons with you, your own son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. ²⁸ Remember, I shall be waiting at the fords near the wilderness until a report from you comes to me.” ²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and remained there.

³⁰ As David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, he wept without ceasing. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. All those who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went.^{(I) 31} When David was told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom,” he said, “O Lord, turn the counsel of Ahithophel to folly!”^(J)

David and Hushai. ³² When David reached the top, where God was worshiped, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him, with garments torn and dirt upon his head.^{(K) 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, ‘Let me be your servant, O king; I was formerly your father’s servant, but now I will be yours,’ you will thwart for me the counsel of Ahithophel.^{(L) 35} You will have the priests Zadok and Abiathar there with you. If you hear anything from the king’s house, you shall report it to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, ³⁶ who have there with them their two sons, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. Through them you shall send on to me whatever you hear.” ³⁷ So David’s friend Hushai went into the city, Jerusalem, as Absalom was about to enter it.

Chapter 16

David and Ziba. ¹ David went a little beyond the top and Ziba, the servant of Meribbaal, was there to meet him with saddled donkeys laden with two hundred loaves of bread, an ephah of cakes of pressed raisins, an ephah of summer fruits, and a skin of wine.^{(M) 2} The king said to Ziba, “What are you doing with all this?” Ziba replied: “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on. The bread and summer fruits are for your servants to eat, and the wine to drink when they grow weary in the wilderness.” ³ Then the king said, “And where is your lord’s son?” Ziba answered the king, “He is staying in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore to me my father’s kingdom.’”^{(N) 4} The king therefore said to Ziba, “So! Everything Meribbaal had is yours.” Then Ziba said: “I pay you homage, my lord the king. May I find favor with you!”^(O)

David and Shimei. ⁵ As King David was approaching Bahurim, there was a man coming out; he was of the same clan as the house of Saul, and his name was Shimei, son of Gera. He kept cursing as he came out,^{(P) 6} and throwing stones at David and at all King David’s officers, even though all the soldiers, including the royal guard, were on David’s right and on his left. ⁷ Shimei was saying as he cursed: “Get out! Get out! You man of blood, you scoundrel! ⁸ The Lord has paid you back for all the blood shed from the family of Saul,^[a] whom you replaced as king, and the Lord has handed over the kingdom to your son Absalom. And now look at you: you suffer ruin because you are a man of blood.” ⁹ Abishai, son of Zeruiah, said to the king: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.”^{(Q) 10} But the king replied: “What business is it of mine or of yours, sons of Zeruiah, that he curses? Suppose the Lord has told him to curse David; who then will dare to say, ‘Why are you doing this?’”^{(R) 11} Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants: “If my own son, who came forth from my loins, is seeking my life, how much more might this Benjaminite do so! Let him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.^{(S) 12} Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction and repay me with good for the curses he is uttering this day.” ¹³ David and his men continued on the road, while Shimei kept up with them on the hillside, all the while cursing and throwing stones and dirt as he went.^{(T) 14} The king and all the soldiers with him arrived at the Jordan tired out, and stopped there to rest.

Absalom’s Counselors. ¹⁵ In the meantime Absalom, with all the Israelites, entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. ¹⁶ When David’s friend Hushai the Archite came to Absalom, he said to him: “Long live the king! Long live the king!”^{(U) 17} But Absalom asked Hushai: “Is this your devotion to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?” ¹⁸ Hushai replied to Absalom: “On the contrary, I am his whom the Lord and all this people and all Israel have chosen, and with him I will stay. ¹⁹ Furthermore, as I was in attendance upon your father, so will I be before you. Whom should I serve, if not his son?”^(V)

²⁰ Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Offer your counsel on what we should do.” ²¹ Ahithophel replied to Absalom: “Go to your father’s concubines, whom he left behind to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears how odious you have made yourself to your father, all those on your side will take courage.”^{(W) 22} So a tent was pitched on the roof for Absalom, and Absalom went to his father’s concubines in view of all Israel.^(X)

Counsel of Ahithophel. ²³ Now the counsel given by Ahithophel at that time was as though one sought the word of God. Such was all the counsel of Ahithophel both to David and to Absalom.^(Y)