1   And after this Absalom began to furnish himself with a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2   And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the road of the gate. Then when anyone had a dispute which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom would call to him and say, "What city are you from?" When he said, "Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel," 3   then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your matters are good and right; but there is no one from the king to hear you." 4   And Absalom would say, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, then anyone who had a dispute and a judgment could come to me, and I would give him justice." 5   It was so, that when any man came near to do him obeisance, he would extend his hand and embrace him, and kiss him. 6   Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 7   It happened at the end of four years, that Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hebron. 8   For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Aram, saying, 'If the LORD will bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD in Hebron.'" 9   The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10   But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.'" 11   Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they did not know anything. 12   And he sent and invited Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom. 13   A messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom." 14   David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword." 15   The king's servants said to the king, "Look, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses." 16   And the king went out with all his household following him. But the king left ten women, who were secondary wives, to take care of the palace. 17   So the king went out with all his servants following him, and they stopped at the last house. 18   And all the people passed on before him. And all those with him, all the officers and warriors, were six hundred men, and they passed on before him. And when all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites and all the Gittites who followed him from Gath passed on before the king, 19   then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place. 20   You came only yesterday. Should I today make you wander about with us, since I go I know not where? Go back, and take your brothers with you, and may the LORD show you kindness and truth." 21   Ittai answered the king, and said, "As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, even there also will your servant be." 22   David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. 23   And all the land wept aloud as all the people crossed over. And the king crossed the Wadi Kidron, and all the people passed before him on the Olive road into the wilderness. 24   Look, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people finished passing out of the city. 25   The king said to Zadok, "Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and show me both it and his dwelling place; 26   but if he should say, 'I have no delight in you;' look, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him." 27   The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28   Look, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me." 29   Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem; and they stayed there. 30   David went up by the Ascent of the Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 31   And it had been told to David, saying, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom." David said, "LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." 32   It happened that when David had come to the top, where God was worshiped, look, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head. 33   David said to him, "If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me; 34   but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, 'Your brothers have left, O king, after your father left, and now I am your servant, O king. Allow me to live. As I have been your father’s servant in the past, so now I am your servant,' then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. 35   Do you not have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore it shall be, that whatever thing you shall hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36   Look, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send to me everything that you shall hear." 37   So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

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