David

So David and his men went on their way, while on the opposite hillside Shim'i kept pace with him, cursing, throwing stones and flinging dust as he went.

Hushai the Arki, David's friend, came to Avshalom and said to him, "Long live the king! Long live the king!"

In those days Achitofel's advice was regarded as highly as if someone had sought out the word of God; it was this way with Achitofel's advice both to David and to Avshalom.

Achitofel said to Avshalom, "Let me now choose 12,000 men, and I will pursue David tonight.

Now therefore send quickly and tell David, "Don't stay tonight in the desert plains; but, whatever it takes, move on from there! Otherwise, the king and all the people with him will be engulfed."

Y'honatan and Achima'atz were staying at 'Ein-Rogel; a female servant was to go and tell them, and they in turn were to go and tell King David - for it would not do to have them seen entering the city.

After they had left, the two climbed out of the cistern and went and told King David, "Get up and cross the river, because Achitofel has given such-and-such advice against you."

David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Yarden; by dawn every one of them had crossed the Yarden.

David had reached Machanayim by the time Avshalom and all the men of Isra'el crossed the Yarden.

After David had arrived in Machanayim, Shovi the son of Nachash, from Rabbah of the people of 'Amon; Machir the son of 'Ammi'el from Lo-D'var and Barzillai the Gil'adi from Roglim

honey, curdled milk, sheep and cheese made of cow's milk for David and the people with him to eat; because they said, "These people are hungry, tired and thirsty from the desert."

David took a census of the people who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and of hundreds.

Then David dispatched the people, a third of them under the command of Yo'av, a third under Avishai the son of Tz'ruyah, Yo'av's brother, and a third under Ittai the Gitti; and the king said to the people, "I will also go out with you, myself."

The people of Isra'el were defeated there by David's servants; there was a terrible slaughter that day of 20,000 men.

Avshalom happened to meet some of David's servants. Avshalom was riding his mule, and as the mule walked under the thick branches of a big terebinth tree, his head got caught in the terebinth, so that he was left hanging between earth and sky, as the mule went on from under him.

David was sitting between the two gates. A watchman went up to the roof of the gate and out onto the wall, raised his eyes, looked, and saw there a man running by himself.

King David sent this message to Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim: "Ask the leaders of Y'hudah, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his palace? The king has already heard that all Isra'el wants to return him to his palace.

Shim'i the son of Gera, the Binyamini from Bachurim, hurried and came down with the men of Y'hudah to meet King David.

But David said, "What do I have in common with you, you sons of Tz'ruyah? Why have you become my adversaries today? Should anyone in Isra'el be put to death today? Don't I know that today I am king over Isra'el?"

Now all the men of Isra'el came to the king and said to him, "Why have our kinsmen, the men of Y'hudah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Yarden, and all David's men with him?"

The men of Isra'el answered the men of Y'hudah, "We have ten shares in the king; also we have more right in David than you. So why did you despise us? Weren't we the first to suggest bringing our king back?" But the men of Y'hudah spoke more vehemently than the men of Isra'el.

There happened to be there a scoundrel whose name was Sheva the son of Bikhri, a Binyamini. He sounded the shofar and said, "We have no share in David, no inheritance in the son of Yishai; so, Isra'el, every man to his tent!"

All the men of Isra'el left off following David and went after Sheva the son of Bikhri. But the men of Y'hudah stuck with their king, from the Yarden to Yerushalayim.

When David arrived at his palace in Yerushalayim, the king took the ten women who were his concubines, whom he had left to care for the palace, and put them under guard. He provided for their needs but never slept with them again. They were kept in confinement until the day of their death, living like widows with their husband still alive.

David said to Avishai, "Sheva the son of Bikhri is going to do us more harm than Avshalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, so that he won't take over fortified cities and escape us."