2So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard it said that day that the king was grieving for his son.
3The people crept quietly into the city that day, like people who are ashamed and slip away when they run from a battle.
4But the king covered his face, and cried out with a loud voice, "O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!"
5Joab came into the house to the king and said, "Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants. Today they have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines."
6You love your enemies and hate your friends. For today you have made it plain that princes and servants mean nothing to you. Today I see that if Absalom had lived, and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you well.
7"Now get up, go out, and speak kindly to your servants. For I swear by the LORD, if you do not go out, not one man will stay with you this night. That will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come on you from your youth until now."
8Then the king got up and sat in the gate. The people were all told, "Look, the king is sitting in the gate." And all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled, every man to his tent.
9All the people were arguing among themselves throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king saved us from the hand of our enemies, and he rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. And now he has fled out of the land because of Absalom."
10"And Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, is dead in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?"
11King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: "Speak to the elders of Judah and say, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? For what all Israel is saying has come to the king, right to his house.'"
12'You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?'
13"And say to Amasa, 'Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you are not the commander of the army before me from now on, in place of Joab.'"
14And he won over the hearts of all the men of Judah, as though they were one man. So they sent this word to the king: "Come back, you and all your servants."
15So the king came back and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go and meet the king, and to bring the king over the Jordan.
16Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
17There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him. They rushed to the Jordan ahead of the king.
18A ferry boat went across to carry over the king's household, and to do whatever he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was crossing the Jordan,
19and said to the king, "Let my lord not charge me with guilt. Do not remember the wrong your servant did on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart."
20"For your servant knows that I have sinned. So look, I have come today, the first of all the house of Joseph, to go down and meet my lord the king."
21But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, "Should not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD's anointed?"
22And David said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be my enemies today? Shall anyone be put to death today in Israel? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?"
23So the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." And the king swore an oath to him.
24Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet, or trimmed his beard, or washed his clothes, from the day the king left until the day he came back in peace.
25When he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?"
26He answered, "My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, 'I will saddle a donkey for myself, so that I may ride on it and go with the king.' For your servant is lame."
27And he has told lies about 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.
28"For all my father's house deserved nothing but death from my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. What right then do I have to cry out any more to the king?"
29The king said to him, "Why speak any more of your affairs? I have said, 'You and Ziba divide the land.'"
30And Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him take it all, since my lord the king has come home again in peace."
31Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and went over the Jordan with the king, to send him on his way over the Jordan.
32Now Barzillai was a very old man, eighty years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.
33The king said to Barzillai, "Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem."
34But Barzillai said to the king, "How many years of life do I have left, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?"
35I am eighty years old today. Can I tell the difference between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I still hear the voices of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be a burden any longer to my lord the king?
36Your servant will go just a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?
37"Please let your servant turn back again, so that I may die in my own city, and be buried by the grave 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."
38The king answered, "Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you. And whatever you ask of me, I will do for you."
39All the people went over the Jordan. When the king had crossed over, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai went back to his own place.
40Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him. All the people of Judah brought the king on his way, and half the people of Israel as well.
41And look, all the men of Israel came to the king and said to him, "Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away? Why have they brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David's men with him?"
42And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king is a close relative of ours. Why then are you angry about this? Have we eaten anything at the king's cost? Has he given us any gift?"
43And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, "We have ten shares in the king, and we have more right to David than you do. Why then did you look down on us? Should not our advice have been asked first about bringing back our king?" And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.