1After this, Absalom got chariots and horses for himself, and fifty men to run ahead of him.
2Absalom would get up early and stand beside the road at the gate. Whenever a man had a dispute and was coming to the king for judgment, Absalom would call out to him and say, "What city are you from?" And the man would say, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel."
3Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your case is good and right, but there is no one appointed by the king to listen to you."
4Absalom would also say, "If only I were made judge in the land. Then everyone who had a case or a complaint could come to me, and I would give him justice."
5And whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him.
6Absalom did this to all the people of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
7After forty years Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go to Hebron and keep the promise I made to the LORD."
8"For while your servant was living at Geshur in Syria, I made this promise: 'If the LORD really brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.'"
9The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he got up and went to Hebron.
10But Absalom sent secret messengers through all the tribes of Israel to say, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.'"
11Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom. They had been invited, and they went without suspecting anything; they knew nothing about the plot.
12While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's adviser, from his city, Giloh. The plot grew strong, for more and more people kept joining Absalom.
14So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, "Get up, and let us run away, or none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry and leave, or he will catch us quickly, bring disaster on us, and strike the city with the sword."
15The king's servants said to the king, "Look, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides."
16So the king went out, and all his household followed him. But the king left ten women, who were his concubines, to look after the house.
17The king went out with all the people following him, and they stopped at a place far off.
18All his servants marched past beside him. All the Cherethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had come with him from Gath, marched past in front of the king.
19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why are you coming with us too? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own land."
20"You came only yesterday. Should I make you wander about with us today, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your brothers with you. May mercy and truth be with you."
21But Ittai answered the king, "As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether it means death or life, there your servant will be."
22David said to Ittai, "Go on, then, and cross over." So Ittai the Gittite crossed over, with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.
23All the country wept aloud as the people passed by. The king himself crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people crossed over, going toward the wilderness road.
24Look, Zadok was there too, and all the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.
25Then the king said to Zadok, "Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again."
26"But if he says, 'I take no delight in you,' then here I am. Let him do to me whatever seems good to him."
27The king also said to Zadok the priest, "Are you not a seer? Go back into the city in peace, and take your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar."
28"Look, I will wait in the plain of the wilderness until word comes from you to tell me what is happening."
29So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they stayed there.
30David went up the slope of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too, and they went up, weeping as they went.
31Someone told David, "Ahithophel is among those plotting with Absalom." And David said, "LORD, I pray, turn Ahithophel's advice into foolishness."
32When David came to the top of the mountain, where he worshipped God, look, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth on his head.
33David said to him, "If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me."
34But if you go back to the city and say to Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant until now, so I will now be your servant,' then you can defeat Ahithophel's advice for me.
35Are Zadok and Abiathar the priests not there with you? So whatever you hear from the king's house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
36"Look, their two sons are there with them, Ahimaaz the son of Zadok and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. Send to me by them everything you hear."