The Reign of David

And the king saith to him, `Go in peace;' and he riseth and goeth to Hebron,

and Absalom sendeth spies through all the tribes of Israel, saying, `At your hearing the voice of the trumpet, then ye have said, Absalom hath reigned in Hebron.'

And with Absalom have gone two hundred men, out of Jerusalem, invited ones, and they are going in their simplicity, and have not known anything;

and Absalom sendeth Ahithophel the Gilonite, a counsellor of David, out of his city, out of Gilo, in his sacrificing sacrifices; and the conspiracy is strong, and the people are going and increasing with Absalom.

And he who is declaring tidings cometh in unto David, saying, `The heart of the men of Israel hath been after Absalom.'

And David saith to all his servants who are with him in Jerusalem, `Rise, and we flee, for we have no escape from the face of Absalom; haste to go, lest he hasten, and have overtaken us, and forced on us evil, and smitten the city by the mouth of the sword.'

And the servants of the king say unto the king, `According to all that my lord the king chooseth--lo, thy servants do .'

And the king goeth out, and all his household at his feet, and the king leaveth ten women--concubines--to keep the house.

And the king goeth out, and all the people at his feet, and they stand still at the farthest off house.

And all his servants are passing on at his side, and all the Cherethite, and all the Pelethite, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came at his feet from Gath, are passing on at the front of the king.

And the king saith unto Ittai the Gittite, `Why dost thou go--thou also--with us? turn back--and abide with the king, for thou art a stranger, and also an exile thou--to thy place.

Yesterday is thy coming in, and to-day I move thee to go with us, and I am going on that which I am going! --turn back, and take back thy brethren with thee, --kindness and truth.'

And Ittai answereth the king and saith, `Jehovah liveth, and my lord the king liveth, surely in the place where my lord the king is--if for death, if for life, surely there is thy servant.'

And David saith unto Ittai, `Go and pass over;' and Ittai the Gittite passeth over, and all his men, and all the infants who are with him.

And all the land are weeping--a great voice, and all the people are passing over; and the king is passing over through the brook Kidron, and all the people are passing over on the front of the way of the wilderness;

and lo, also Zadok, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God, and they make the ark of God firm, and Abiathar goeth up, till the completion of all the people to pass over out of the city.

And the king saith to Zadok, `Take back the ark of God to the city; if I find grace in the eyes of Jehovah, then He hath brought me back, and shewn me it and His habitation;

and if thus He say, I have not delighted in thee; here am I, He doth to me as is good in His eyes.'

And the king saith unto Zadok the priest, `Art thou a seer? turn back to the city in peace, and Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan son of Abiathar, your two sons with you;

see ye, I am tarrying in the plains of the wilderness till the coming in of a word from you to declare to me.'

And Zadok taketh back--and Abiathar--the ark of God to Jerusalem, and they abide there.

And David is going up in the ascent of the olives, going up and weeping, and he hath the head covered, and he is going barefooted, and all the people who are with him have covered each his head, and have gone up, going up and weeping;

and David declared, saying, `Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom;' and David saith, `Make foolish, I pray Thee, the counsel of Ahithophel, O Jehovah.'

And it cometh to pass, David hath come unto the top, where he boweth himself to God, and lo, to meet him is Hushai the Archite, his coat rent, and earth on his head;

and David saith to him, `If thou hast passed on with me then thou hast been on me for a burden,