2 Samuel 15:1-12

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

Absalom Usurps the Throne

15 After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him. ² Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the road into the gate; and when anyone brought a suit before the king for judgement, Absalom would call out and say, ‘From what city are you?’ When the person said, ‘Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel’, ³ Absalom would say, ‘See, your claims are good and right; but there is no one deputed by the king to hear you.’ ⁴ Absalom said moreover, ‘If only I were judge in the land! Then all who had a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice.’ ⁵ Whenever people came near to do obeisance to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of them, and kiss them. ⁶ Thus Absalom did to every Israelite who came to the king for judgement; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

⁷ At the end of four^[a] years Absalom said to the king, ‘Please let me go to Hebron and pay the vow that I have made to the Lord. ⁸ For your servant made a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram: If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will worship the Lord in Hebron.’^{[b] 9} The king said to him, ‘Go in peace.’ So he got up, and went to Hebron. ¹⁰ But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, ‘As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then shout: Absalom has become king at Hebron!’ ¹¹ Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom; they were invited guests, and they went in their innocence, knowing nothing of the matter. ¹² While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for^[c] Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city Giloh. The conspiracy grew in strength, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.