2 Samuel 18-19

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Defeat and Death of Absalom

18 Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.^{(A) 2} And David sent forth the army: one third under the command of Joab; one third under the command of Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother; and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the men, “I myself will also go out with you.”^{(B) 3} But the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us;^[a] therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.”^{(C) 4} The king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands.^{(D) 5} The king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.^(E)

⁶ So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim.^{(F) 7} The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. ⁸ The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.

⁹ Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging^[b] between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.^{(G) 10} A man saw it and told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” ¹¹ Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” ¹² But the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘For my sake protect the young man Absalom!’^{(H) 13} On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life^[c] (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” ¹⁴ Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak.^{(I) 15} And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.

¹⁶ Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained the troops.^{(J) 17} They took Absalom, threw him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Meanwhile all the Israelites fled to their homes.^{(K) 18} Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself a pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar by his own name; it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.^(L)

David Hears of Absalom’s Death

¹⁹ Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and carry tidings to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the power of his enemies.”^{(M) 20} Joab said to him, “You are not to carry tidings today; you may carry tidings another day, but today you shall not do so because the king’s son is dead.” ²¹ Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed before Joab and ran. ²² Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said again to Joab, “Come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.” And Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, seeing that you have no reward^[d] for the tidings?” ²³ “Come what may,” he said, “I will run.” So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain and outran the Cushite.

²⁴ Now David was sitting between the two gates. The sentinel went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and when he looked up he saw a man running alone.^{(N) 25} The sentinel shouted and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there are tidings in his mouth.” He kept coming and drew near. ²⁶ Then the sentinel saw another man running, and the sentinel called to the gatekeeper and said, “See, another man running alone!” The king said, “He also is bringing tidings.” ²⁷ The sentinel said, “I think the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man and comes with good tidings.”

²⁸ Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, “All is well!” He prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.”^{(O) 29} The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “I saw a great tumult when the king’s servant Joab sent your servant, but I do not know what it was.”^{(P) 30} The king said, “Turn aside, and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

³¹ Then the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good tidings for my lord the king! For the Lord has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you.”^{(Q) 32} The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to do you harm be like that young man.”^(R)

David Mourns for Absalom

^33 [e]The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept, and as he went he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”^(S)

19 It was told Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”^{(T) 2} So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops, for the troops heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.” ³ The troops stole into the city that day as soldiers steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. ⁴ The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”^{(U) 5} Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your officers who have saved your life today, and the lives of your sons and your daughters, and the lives of your wives and your concubines, ⁶ for love of those who hate you and for hatred of those who love you. You have made it clear today that commanders and officers are nothing to you, for I perceive that, if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. ⁷ So go out at once and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night, and this will be worse for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your youth until now.” ⁸ Then the king got up and took his seat in the gate. The troops were all told, “See, the king is sitting in the gate,” and all the troops came before the king.

David Recalled to Jerusalem

Meanwhile, all the Israelites had fled to their homes.^{(V) 9} All the people were disputing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land because of Absalom.^{(W) 10} But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

¹¹ King David sent this message to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house? The talk of all Israel has come to the king.^{[f] 12} You are my kin; you are my bone and my flesh; why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’^{(X) 13} And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? So may God do to me and more, if you are not the commander of my army from now on, in place of Joab.’ ”^{(Y) 14} Amasa^[g] swayed the hearts of all the people of Judah as one, and they sent word to the king, “Return, both you and all your servants.”^{(Z) 15} So the king came back to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring him over the Jordan.^(AA)

¹⁶ Shimei son of Gera, a Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the people of Judah to meet King David;^{(AB) 17} with him were a thousand people from Benjamin. And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king^{(AC) 18} while the crossing was taking place,^[h] to bring over the king’s household and to do his pleasure.

David’s Mercy to Shimei

Shimei son of Gera fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan ¹⁹ and said to the king, “May my lord not hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem; may the king not bear it in mind.^{(AD) 20} For your servant knows that I have sinned; therefore, see, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”^{(AE) 21} Abishai son of Zeruiah answered, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?”^{(AF) 22} But David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should today become an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?”^{(AG) 23} The king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king gave him his oath.^(AH)

David and Mephibosheth Meet

²⁴ Mephibosheth grandson of Saul came down to meet the king; he had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his beard or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he came back in safety.^{(AI) 25} When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”^{(AJ) 26} He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘Saddle a donkey for me^[i] so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For your servant is lame.^{(AK) 27} He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you.^{(AL) 28} For all my father’s house were doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to appeal to the king?”^{(AM) 29} The king said to him, “Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.” ³⁰ Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take it all, since my lord the king has arrived home safely.”

David’s Kindness to Barzillai

³¹ Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim; he went on with the king to the Jordan to escort him over the Jordan.^{(AN) 32} Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.^{(AO) 33} The king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem at my side.” ³⁴ But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years have I still to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? ³⁵ Today I am eighty years old; can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?^{(AP) 36} Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king recompense me with such a reward? ³⁷ Please let your servant return, so that I may die in my own town, near the graves of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king and do for him whatever seems good to you.”^{(AQ) 38} The king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you, and all that you desire of me I will do for you.” ³⁹ Then all the people crossed over the Jordan, and the king crossed over; the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own home.^{(AR) 40} The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him; all the people of Judah, and also half the people of Israel, brought the king on his way.

⁴¹ Then all the people of Israel came to the king and said to him, “Why have our kindred the people of Judah stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan and all David’s men with him?”^{(AS) 42} All the people of Judah answered the people of Israel, “Because the king is near of kin to us. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?”^{(AT) 43} But the people of Israel answered the people of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the people of Judah were fiercer than the words of the people of Israel.^(AU)