The Reign of David

my brethren ye are , my bone and my flesh ye are , and why are ye last to bring back the king?

And to Amasa say ye, Art not thou my bone and my flesh? Thus doth God do to me, and thus He doth add, if thou art not head of the host before me all the days instead of Joab.'

And he inclineth the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they send unto the king, `Turn back, thou, and all thy servants.'

And the king turneth back, and cometh in unto the Jordan, and Judah hath come to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan,

and Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite, who is from Bahurim, hasteth, and cometh down with the men of Judah, to meet king David,

and a thousand men are with him from Benjamin, and Ziba servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, and they have gone prosperously over the Jordan before the king.

And passed over hath the ferry-boat to carry over the household of the king, and to do that which is good in his eyes, and Shimei son of Gera hath fallen before the king in his passing over into Jordan,

and saith unto the king, `Let not my lord impute to me iniquity; neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely in the day that my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, --for the king to set it unto his heart;

for thy servant hath known that I have sinned; and lo, I have come to-day, first of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king.'

And Abishai son of Zeruiah answereth and saith, `For this is not Shimei put to death--because he reviled the anointed of Jehovah?'

And David saith, `What--to me and to you, O sons of Zeruiah, that ye are to me to-day for an adversary? to-day is any man put to death in Israel? for have I not known that to-day I am king over Israel?'

And the king saith unto Shimei, `Thou dost not die;' and the king sweareth to him.

And Mephibosheth son of Saul hath come down to meet the king--and he prepared not his feet, nor did he prepare his upper lip, yea, his garments he washed not, even from the day of the going away of the king, till the day that he came in peace--

and it cometh to pass, when he hath come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king saith to him, `Why didst thou not go with me, Mephibosheth?'

And he saith, `My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for thy servant said, I saddle for me the ass, and ride on it, and go with the king, for thy servant is lame;

and he uttereth slander against thy servant unto my lord the king, and my lord the king is as a messenger of God; and do thou that which is good in thine eyes,

for all the house of my father have been nothing except men of death before my lord the king, and thou dost set thy servant among those eating at thy table, and what right have I any more--even to cry any more unto the king?'

And the king saith to him, `Why dost thou speak any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba--share ye the field.'

And Mephibosheth saith unto the king, `Yea, the whole let him take, after that my lord the king hath come in peace unto his house.'

And Barzillai the Gileadite hath gone down from Rogelim, and passeth over the Jordan with the king, to send him away over the Jordan;

and Barzillai is very aged, a son of eighty years, and he hath sustained the king in his abiding in Mahanaim, for he is a very great man;

and the king saith unto Barzillai, `Pass thou over with me, and I have sustained thee with me in Jerusalem.'

And Barzillai saith unto the king, `How many are the days of the years of my life, that I go up with the king to Jerusalem?

A son of eighty years I am to-day; do I know between good and evil? doth thy servant taste that which I am eating, and that which I drink? do I hearken any more to the voice of singers and songstresses? and why is thy servant any more for a burden unto my lord the king?

As a little thing, thy servant doth pass over the Jordan with the king, and why doth the king recompense me this recompense?