The Anselm Project

Chapter 19

⁹ And the king arose and sat in the gate. And they announced to all the people, saying, "Behold, the king is sitting in the gate." And all the people came before the king, but Israel had fled, every man to his tent. ¹⁰ All the people were conferring throughout the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king saved us from the hand of our enemies and he delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled from the land because of Absalom." ¹¹ And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in the war. Now why are you keeping silent about bringing the king back? ¹² And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, 'Why will you be last to bring back the king to his house? And the word of all Israel has come to the king, to his house.'" ¹³ My brothers, you are my bone and my flesh; and why will you be last to return the king? ¹⁴ And to Amasa they rebelled—"Is it not my bone and my flesh you are? Thus may God do to me and thus may he add if you will not be commander of the army before me all the days in place of Joab." ¹⁵ And he turned the heart of every man of Judah as one man, and they sent to the king, "Return, you and all your servants." ¹⁶ And the king sat by the Jordan, and Shimei came as far as the Jordan. And Judah came from Gilgal to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan. ¹⁷ And Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried and went down with the men of Judah to meet King David. ¹⁸ And thousands of men from Benjamin were with him. Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants came, crossed the Jordan before the king. ¹⁹ And the crossing crossed to cross the house of the king and to do the good in his eyes, and Shimei son of Gera fell before the king in his crossing the Jordan River. ²⁰ And he said to the king, "Do not count iniquity to me, my lord the king, and do not remember what your servant sinned on the day my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, to put it to the king's heart." ²¹ For your servant knows that I have sinned. Behold, I have come today first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. ²² And Abishai son of Zeruiah responded and said, "Instead of this, should Shimei not be put to death? For he cursed the anointed of the LORD." ²³ And David said, "What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you become my adversaries today? Today no man shall be put to death in Israel, for do I not know that today I am king over Israel?" ²⁴ And the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." And the king swore to him. ²⁵ And Mephibosheth son of Saul went down to meet the king, and he did not do his feet and he did not do his mustache, and his garments he did not wash from the day of the king's going out until the day he came in peace. ²⁶ And when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?" ²⁷ And he said, "My lord the king, my servant deceived me, for he said, 'I will saddle the donkey for me and ride on it and go with the king,' for your servant is lame." ²⁸ And he spied on your servant against my lord the king. And my lord the king is like the angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes. ²⁹ For there was not all the house of my father except men of death to my lord the king, and you have placed your servant among the eaters of your table. And what is to me still righteousness, and to cry out still to the king? ³⁰ And the king said to him, "Why do you still speak of your matters? I have said, 'You and Ziba shall divide the field.'" ³¹ Mephibosheth said to the king, "Even all—let him take it after my lord the king has come in peace to his house." ³² And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Roglim and crossed the Jordan with the king to escort him across the Jordan. ³³ And Barzillai, a very elderly man, eighty years old, had sustained the king during his return in the camps, for he was a very great man. ³⁴ And the king said to Barzillai, "Cross over with me, and I will support you with me in Jerusalem." ³⁵ Barzillai said to the king, "How many days of years of life that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?" ³⁶ I am eighty years old today. Do I know good from evil? Whether your servant tastes what he eats or what he drinks, whether I hear anymore the voice of singing men and singing women—why should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king? ³⁷ "Almost your servant will cross the Jordan with the king, and why should the king repay me this repayment?" ³⁸ Please let your servant and my maidservant dwell in my city with the burial site of my father and my mother, and behold, your servant will cross over like them with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your eyes. ³⁹ And the king said, "Let him cross over with me like them, and I will do for him what is good in your eyes, and all that you choose from me I will do for you." ⁴⁰ And he crossed—all the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed, and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his place. ⁴¹ And the king crossed over to Gilgal, and all the people crossed over with him, and all the people of Judah ferried the king across, and also half the people of Israel. ⁴² And all the men of Israel came to the king. And they said to the king, "Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal you away and bring the king and his house across the Jordan, along with all the men of David with him?" ⁴³ And every man of Judah answered the man of Israel, "The king is closer to us, and why does this anger you concerning this matter? We ate from the king; if you bore it, he bore it for us."

2 Samuel

David's Return to Jerusalem; Reconciliation and Disputes