2 Samuel 19

1 Then it was reported to Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.”

And it is declared to Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom”;

2 And that day’s victory was turned into mourning for all the people, because on that day they were told, “The king is grieving over his son.”

and the salvation on that day becomes mourning to all the people, for the people have heard on that day, saying, “The king has been grieved for his son.”

3 So they returned to the city quietly that day, as people steal away in humiliation after fleeing a battle.

And the people steals away, on that day, to go into the city, as the people steal away, who are ashamed, in their fleeing in battle;

4 But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

and the king has covered his face, indeed, the king cries [with] a loud voice, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”

5 Then Joab went into the house and said to the king, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, of your wives, and of your concubines.

And Joab comes into the house to the king and says, “Today you have put to shame the faces of all your servants, those delivering your life today, and the life of your sons, and of your daughters, and the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines,

6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you! For you have made it clear today that the commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, it would have pleased you!

to love your enemies, and to hate those loving you, for today you have declared that you have no princes and servants, for today I have known that if Absalom [were] alive, and all of us dead today, that then it were right in your eyes.

7 Now therefore get up! Go out and speak comfort to your servants, for I swear by the LORD that if you do not go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the adversity that has befallen you from your youth until now!”

And now, rise, go out and speak to the heart of your servants, for I have sworn by YHWH, that [if] you are not going out—there does not lodge a man with you tonight; and this [is] worse for you than all the evil that has come on you from your youth until now.”

8 So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” So they all came before the king. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled, each man to his home.

And the king rises, and sits in the gate, and they have declared to all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate”; and all the people come in before the king, and Israel has fled, each to his tents.

9 And all the people throughout the tribes of Israel were arguing, “The king rescued us from the hand of our enemies and delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled the land because of Absalom.

And it comes to pass, all the people are contending through all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, indeed, he himself delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land because of Absalom,

10 But Absalom, the man we anointed over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about restoring the king?”

and Absalom whom we anointed over us [is] dead in battle, and now, why are you silent—to bring back the king?”

11 Then King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to restore the king to his palace, since the talk of all Israel has reached the king at his quarters?

And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to [the] elderly of Judah, saying, Why are you last to bring back the king to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, to his house;

12 You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to restore the king?’

you [are] my brothers, you [are] my bone and my flesh, and why are you last to bring back the king?

13 And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from this time you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

And say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh? Thus God does to me, and thus He adds, if you are not head of the host before me instead of Joab [for] all the days.”

14 So he swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man, and they sent word to the king: “Return, you and all your servants.”

And he inclines the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they send to the king, “Return, you and all your servants.”

15 So the king returned, and when he arrived at the Jordan, the men of Judah came to Gilgal to meet him and escort him across the Jordan.

And the king turns back, and comes to the Jordan, and Judah has come to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan,

16 Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David,

and Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite, who [is] from Bahurim, hurries, and comes down with the men of Judah, to meet King David,

17 along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan before the king

and one thousand men [are] with him from Benjamin, and Ziba servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, and they have gone prosperously over the Jordan before the king.

18 and crossed at the ford to carry over the king’s household and to do what was good in his sight. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king

And the ferry-boat has passed over to carry over the household of the king, and to do that which [is] good in his eyes, and Shimei son of Gera has fallen before the king in his passing over into the Jordan,

19 and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.

and he says to the king, “Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me; neither remember that which your servant did perversely in the day that my lord the king went out from Jerusalem—for the king to set [it] to his heart;

20 For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”

for your servant has known that I have sinned; and behold, I have come today, first of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king.”

21 But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”

And Abishai son of Zeruiah answers and says, “Is Shimei not put to death for this—because he reviled the anointed of YHWH?”

22 And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?”

And David says, “And what do I [have to do] with you, O sons of Zeruiah, that today you are for an adversary to me? Is any man put to death in Israel today? For have I not known that today I [am] king over Israel?”

23 So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore an oath to him.

And the king says to Shimei, “You do not die”; and the king swears to him.

24 Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely.

And Mephibosheth son of Saul has come down to meet the king—and he did not prepare his feet, nor did he prepare his upper lip, indeed, he did not wash his garments, even from the day of the going away of the king, until the day that he came in peace—

25 And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?”

and it comes to pass, when he has come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king says to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”

26 “My lord the king,” he replied, “because I am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ But my servant Ziba deceived me,

And he says, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said, I saddle the donkey for myself, and ride on it, and go with the king, for your servant [is] lame;

27 and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like the angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes.

and he utters slander against your servant to my lord the king, and my lord the king [is] as a messenger of God; and do that which is good in your eyes,

28 For all the house of my grandfather deserves death from my lord the king, yet you have set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right, then, do I have to keep appealing to the king?”

for all the house of my father have been nothing except men of death before my lord the king, and you set your servant among those eating at your table, and what right do I have anymore—even to cry anymore to the king?”

29 The king replied, “Why say any more? I hereby declare that you and Ziba are to divide the land.”

And the king says to him, “Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, You and Ziba—share the field.”

30 And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Instead, since my lord the king has safely come to his own house, let Ziba take it all!”

And Mephibosheth says to the king, “Indeed, let him take the whole, after that my lord the king has come in peace to his house.”

31 Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and send him on his way from there.

And Barzillai the Gileadite has gone down from Rogelim, and passes over the Jordan with the king, to send him away over the Jordan;

32 Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.

and Barzillai [is] very aged, a son of eighty years, and he has sustained the king in his abiding in Mahanaim, for he [is] a very great man;

33 The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.”

and the king says to Barzillai, “Pass over with me, and I have sustained you in Jerusalem with me.”

34 But Barzillai replied, “How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?

And Barzillai says to the king, “How many [are] the days of the years of my life, that I go up with the king to Jerusalem?

35 I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?

I [am] a son of eighty years today; do I know between good and evil? Does your servant taste that which I am eating, and that which I drink? Do I listen anymore to the voice of male and female singers? And why is your servant for a burden to my lord the king anymore?

36 Your servant could go with the king only a short distance past the Jordan; why should the king repay me with such a reward?

As a little thing, your servant passes over the Jordan with the king, and why does the king repay me this repayment?

37 Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your sight.”

Please let your servant turn back again, and I die in my own city, near the burying-place of my father and of my mother—and behold, your servant Chimham, let him pass over with my lord the king, and do to him that which [is] good in your eyes.”

38 The king replied, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him what seems good in your sight, and I will do for you whatever you desire of me.”

And the king says, “Chimham goes over with me, and I do to him that which [is] good in your eyes, indeed, all that you fix on me I do to you.”

39 So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned home.

And all the people pass over the Jordan, and the king has passed over, and the king gives a kiss to Barzillai, and blesses him, and he turns back to his place.

40 Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed over with him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel escorted the king.

And the king passes over to Gilgal, and Chimham has passed over with him, and all the people of Judah, and they bring over the king, and also the half of the people of Israel.

41 Soon all the men of Israel came to the king and asked, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, together with all of David’s men?”

And behold, all the men of Israel are coming to the king, and they say to the king, “Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you—and they bring the king and his household over the Jordan, and all the men of David with him?”

42 And all the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “We did this because the king is our relative. Why does this anger you? Have we ever eaten at the king’s expense or received anything for ourselves?”

And all the men of Judah answer against the men of Israel, “Because the king [is] near to us, and why [is] this [that] you are displeased about this matter? Have we eaten of the king’s [substance] at all? Has he lifted up a gift to us?”

43 “We have ten shares in the king,” answered the men of Israel, “so we have more claim to David than you. Why then do you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of restoring our king?” But the men of Judah pressed even harder than the men of Israel.

And the men of Israel answer the men of Judah, and say, “We have ten parts in the king, and also more than you in David; and why have you lightly esteemed us, that our word has not been first to bring back our king?” And the word of the men of Judah is sharper than the word of the men of Israel.