Historical
Joab Brings Absalom to Jerusalem
14 Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was on Absalom. 2 So Joab sent word to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there. He said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning clothes. Do not anoint yourself with oil but be like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. 3 Then go to the king and speak to him these words.” Then Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, bowed down and said, “Help, O king!”
5 “What’s the matter with you?” the king said to her.
“Truly, I am a widow, my husband is dead,” she said. 6 “Your handmaid had two sons, but the two of them fought with each other in the field, where there was no one to separate them. So one struck the other and killed him. 7 Now behold, the whole clan has risen against your handmaid and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother so we may put him to death, for the life of his brother whom he slew.’ So they will also destroy the heir and extinguish my one remaining ember, leaving to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth!”
8 Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your home. I will issue an order concerning you.”
9 The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, let the iniquity be on me and on my father’s house but may the king and his throne be innocent.”
10 “Whoever speaks to you,” the king said, “bring him to me and he shall not touch you anymore.”
11 “Please, let the king remember Adonai your God,” she said, “so that the avenger of blood does not destroy any more, so they won’t destroy my son.”
“As Adonai lives,” he said, “not one hair of your son will fall to the ground.”
12 Then the woman said, “Please, let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king.”
“Say on,” he said.
13 The woman said, “Why have you devised a situation just like this against God’s people? For by speaking this word, the king is like the guilty one—by not bringing back the one he banished. 14 For we will all surely die and be like water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life but rather, He devises plans so that a banished person may not remain an outcast from Him. 15 Now the reason I came to speak this word to my lord the king is because the people have made me afraid. So your handmaid thought, ‘I must speak to the king—perhaps the king will fulfill the request of his maidservant. 16 Surely the king will hear, to deliver his maidservant from the hand of the one who would eliminate both me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.’ 17 Then your handmaid also thought, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring relief. For like an angel of God so is my lord the king to discern good and evil.’ So may Adonai your God be with you.”
18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide anything from me concerning what I am about to ask you.”
“Please let my lord the king speak,” the woman said.
19 Then the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”
“As your soul lives, my lord the king,” the woman answered, “no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Yes, your servant Joab was the one who commanded me and put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid. 20 Your servant Joab did this thing in order to bring about a change in the situation. But my lord is wise—like the wisdom of an angel of God—to know all that goes on in the land.”
21 Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I will do this thing. So go, bring the young man Absalom back.” 22 Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself and blessed the king. Then Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, since the king has done the word of your servant.” 23 So Joab got up, went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 However, the king said, “He may go directly to his own house, but he may not see my face.” So Absalom went directly to his own house and did not see the king’s face.
25 Now in all Israel there was none as handsome as Absalom—so highly praised. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. 26 When he cut the hair of his head—at the end of every year he would cut it because the hair got so heavy on him that he had to cut it. The weight of the hair from his head was 200 shekels by the royal weight[a]. 27 To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar—she was a beautiful woman.
28 Now Absalom had lived two full years in Jerusalem but he never saw the king’s face. 29 Then Absalom sent for Joab, in order to send him to the king, but he was unwilling to come to him. So he sent word again a second time, but he still would not come. 30 So he said to his servants, “See, Joab’s field is next to mine and he has barley there—go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
31 Then Joab arose, came to Absalom at his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?”
32 “Look, I sent word to you,” Absalom said to Joab, “saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’” So now, let me see the king’s face and if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death.” 33 So Joab went to the king and told him. When he summoned Absalom, he came to the king and bowed down on his face to the ground before the king, and then, the king kissed Absalom.
Absalom’s Revolt
15 Now it came about after this that Absalom provided himself with a chariot, horses and 50 men as runners before him. 2 Absalom used to rise up early and stand beside the road to the city gate. Whenever anyone had a suit to come to the king for justice, then Absalom would call to him and say, “What town are you from?” Should he answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,” 3 Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no one assigned to you by the king to hear you.” 4 Moreover, Absalom would say, “If only I were appointed judge in the land, then every man who has any suit or case would come to me, and I would get him justice!” 5 Also, whenever anyone approached to bow to him, he would stretch his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him. 6 So Absalom kept doing this to everyone of Israel who came to the king for judgment. Thus Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
7 At the end of 40 years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and pay my vow which I have vowed to Adonai. 8 For your servant vowed a vow while I was still living at Geshur in Aram saying, ‘If Adonai will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve Adonai.’”
9 So the king said to him, “Go in shalom.”
Then he rose and went to Hebron. 10 But Absalom sent spies to all the tribes of Israel to say, “As soon as you hear the sound of the shofar, then you are to say, ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’” 11 Now 200 men from Jerusalem went with Absalom, who were invited and were going innocently, knowing nothing of the situation. 12 Also Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor from his town Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. So the conspiracy gained momentum for the people following Absalom continued to increase.
13 Then a messenger came to David saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are following Absalom.”
David’s Exodus from Jerusalem
14 Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave in haste or else he will overtake us quickly and bring disaster down on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”
15 Then the king’s officials said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.” 16 So the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But the king left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace. 17 As the king went out and all the people after him, they paused at the last house. 18 All his servants passed on beside him: all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites—600 men that had come after him from Gath—passed on before the king. 19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your own place. 20 Your arrival was only yesterday—should I make you wander around with us today, to go wherever I may go? Go back and take your kinsmen back with you. Kindness and truth be with you!”
21 But Ittai answered the king and said, “As Adonai lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in whatever place my lord the king will be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.”[b]
22 So David said to Ittai, “Go on and cross over.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on, with all his men and all the little children who were with him. 23 While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people were crossing over as the king was crossing over Kidron Valley. So all the people crossed over toward the road of the wilderness.
24 Then behold, Zadok also came and all the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, then Abiathar came up, until all the people had passed by, out of the city. 25 But the king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in Adonai’s eyes, He will bring me back, and let me see it and His dwelling. 26 But if He says thus, ‘I have no delight in you,’ here I am, let Him do to me as seems good in His eyes.” 27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Do you not see? Return to the city in shalom with your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 Therefore Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.
30 Then David continued to go up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he ascended. He had his head covered and was walking barefoot. So all the people with him each covered his head as they went up, weeping as they ascended.
31 Then someone told David saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “Adonai, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
32 Then David went on until he reached the summit—where God was worshiped—and behold, Hushai the Archite met him with his coat rent and dust 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 say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king—I was your father’s servant from then, but now I will be your servant,’ then you can thwart Ahithophel’s counsel for me. 35 Won’t you have with you Zadok and Abiathar the kohanim there? So whatever you hear from the royal palace, you should report it to Zadok and Abiathar the kohanim. 36 See, they have their two sons with them there, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar’s son Jonathan—by them you can send to me everything you hear.” 37 So David’s friend Hushai reached the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.