Joab Reproves David
And it was told to Joab, “Look — the king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.”
And the salvation on that day became mourning for all the people, for the people heard on that day, “The king is grieved over his son.”
And the people stole into the city that day, as people humiliated in their flight from battle steal away.
And the king had covered his face, and the king cried out with a great voice, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”
And Joab came to the king at the house and said: “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants — those who saved your life today, and the life of your sons and your daughters, and the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines —
by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. For you have declared today that you have no commanders or servants; for I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us today were dead, then it would be right in your eyes.
Now then, rise, go out, and speak to the heart of your servants. For I swear by the LORD: if you do not go out, not a man will stay the night with you — and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come on you from your youth until now.”
David Restored as King
And the king rose and sat in the gate. And they told all the people, saying, “Look — the king is sitting in the gate.” And all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled, each to his tents.
And all the people were arguing through all the tribes of Israel, saying: “The king delivered us from the palm of our enemies, and he himself saved us from the palm of the Philistines — and now he has fled from the land, from Absalom.
And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in the battle. So now, why are you silent about bringing the king back?”
And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying: “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house?’ — for the word of all Israel had come to the king, to his house.
‘You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?’
And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? Thus may God do to me, and thus may he add, if you shall not be commander of the army before me all the days, in place of Joab.’”
And he turned the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they sent to the king: “Return, you and all your servants.”
And the king returned and came as far as the Jordan; and Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.
Shimei Pardoned
And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David,
and a thousand men from Benjamin with him; and Ziba, the young man of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him — and they rushed down to the Jordan before the king.
And the crossing was made, to bring the king’s household across and to do what was good in his eyes. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was crossing the Jordan,
and he said to the king: “Let my lord not count iniquity against me; and do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king went out from Jerusalem — let the king not take it to heart.
For your servant knows that I myself have sinned. And look — I have come today, first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my lord the king.”
And Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Shall Shimei not be put to death for this — for he cursed the anointed of the LORD?”
And David said: “What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should be an adversary to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”
And the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore to him.
Mephibosheth Excused
And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king. And he had not tended his feet, and had not trimmed his mustache, and had not washed his garments, from the day the king went away until the day he came in peace.
And it was, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”
And he said: “My lord the king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘Let me saddle the donkey for myself and ride on it and go with the king’ — for your servant is lame.
And he slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God; so do what is good in your eyes.
For all my father’s house were nothing but men marked for death before my lord the king, yet you set your servant among those who eat at your table. So what right do I still have, to cry out anymore to the king?”
And the king said to him, “Why do you keep speaking of your affairs? I have said: you and Ziba shall divide the fields.”
And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take it all — now that my lord the king has come in peace to his own house.”
David’s Kindness to Barzillai
And Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, and he crossed the Jordan with the king, to send him off across the Jordan.
Now Barzillai was very old — eighty years old; and he himself had provided for the king while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.
And the king said to Barzillai, “You cross over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.”
And Barzillai said to the king: “How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
I am eighty years old today. Can I tell between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat and what I drink? Can I still hear the voice of singing men and singing women? So why should your servant be a burden anymore to my lord the king?
Your servant will just cross the Jordan with the king. And why should the king repay me with such a reward?
Let your servant turn back, please, and let me die in my own city, near the tomb of my father and my mother. But look — your servant Chimham: let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your eyes.”
And the king said, “Chimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your eyes; and all that you choose to lay on me, I will do for you.”
And all the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed; and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own place.
And the king crossed over to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed over with him; and all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.
Contention over the King
And look — all the men of Israel coming to the king; and they said to the king, “Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away, and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?”
And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel: “Because the king is near kin to me. So why is it you are angry over this matter? Have we eaten anything at all at the king’s expense? Or has anything at all been carried off for us?”
And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said: “I have ten shares in the king, and in David too I am more than you. So why have you treated me lightly? Was not my word first, for me, about bringing back my king?” And the word of the men of Judah was harder than the word of the men of Israel.