Absalom Usurps the Throne

15 After this Absalom provided for himself a chariot and horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.^{(A) 2} Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the road into the gate, and when anyone brought a suit before the king for judgment, 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,”^{(B) 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 would also say, “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.”^{(C) 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 judgment, so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.^(D)

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.^{(E) 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 serve the Lord in Hebron.”^{[b](F) 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 innocence, knowing nothing of the matter.^{(G) 12} While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for^[c] Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. The conspiracy grew in strength, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.^(H)