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So the king got up and sat at the gate. When they told all the people, saying, "Behold, the king is ^(C1)sitting at the gate," then all the people came before the king. Now ^(C2)Israel had fled, each to his tent.

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And all the people were quarreling throughout the tribes of Israel, saying, "^(C1)The king rescued us from the ^(F1)hands of our enemies and ^(C2)saved us from the ^(F1)hands of the Philistines, but now ^(C3)he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

"However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now then, why are you silent about bringing the king back?"

Then King David sent word to ^(C1)Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house?

'You are my brothers; ^(C1)you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?'

"And say to ^(C1)Amasa, 'Are you not my bone and my flesh? ^(C2)May God do so to me, and more so, if you will not be ^(C3)commander of the army ^(F1)for me continually, ^(C4)in place of Joab.'"

So he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah ^(C1)as one man, so that they sent word to the king, saying, "Return, you and all your servants."

The king then returned and came as far as the Jordan. And the men of Judah came to ^(C1)Gilgal in order to go to meet the king, to escort the king across the Jordan.

Then ^(C1)Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and ^(C1)Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they rushed to the Jordan before the king.

Then they crossed the shallow places repeatedly to bring over the king's household, and to do what was good in his sight. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan.

And he said to the king, "^(C1)May my lord not consider me guilty, nor call to mind what your servant did wrong on the day when my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, so that the king would ^(F1)take it to heart.

"For your servant knows that I have sinned; so behold, I have come today, ^(C1)the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king."

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah responded, "^(C1)Should Shimei not be put to death for this, ^(C2)the fact that he cursed the LORD'S anointed?"

David then said, "^(C1)What ^(F1)is there between you and me, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be an adversary to me today? ^(C2)Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? For do I not know that I am king over Israel today?"

So the king said to Shimei, "^(C1)You shall not die." The king also swore to him.

Then ^(C1)Mephibosheth the ^(F1)grandson of Saul came down to meet the king; but ^(C2)he had neither ^(F2)tended to his feet, nor ^(F2)trimmed his mustache, nor ^(C3)washed his clothes since the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.

And it was when he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, "^(C1)Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?"

So he said, "My lord the king, my servant betrayed me; for your servant said, 'I will ^(F1)saddle the donkey for myself so that I may ride on it and go with the king,' ^(C1)since your servant cannot walk.

"Furthermore, ^(C1)he has slandered your servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is ^(C2)like the angel of God, therefore do what is good in your sight.

"For ^(C1)all my father's household was only people worthy of death to my lord the king; ^(C2)yet you placed your servant among those who ate at your own table. So what right do I still have, that I should ^(F1)complain anymore to the king?"

So the king said to him, "Why do you still speak of your affairs? I have ^(F1)decided, 'You and Ziba shall divide the land.'"

And Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him even take it all, since my lord the king has come safely to his own house."