Study Desk

It was told Joab, "The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom."

So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops; for the troops heard that day, "The king is grieving for his son."

for love of those who hate you and for hatred of those who love you. You have made it clear today that commanders and officers are nothing to you; for I perceive that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.

So go out at once and speak kindly to your servants; for I swear by the Lord , if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night; and this will be worse for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your youth until now."

For your servant knows that I have sinned; therefore, see, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king."

Abishai son of Zeruiah answered, "Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord 's anointed?"

But David said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should today become an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?"

He answered, "My lord, O king, my servant deceived me; for your servant said to him, ‘Saddle a donkey for me, so that I may ride on it and go with the king.' For your servant is lame.

For all my father's house were doomed to death before my lord the king; but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to appeal to the king?"

Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.

The king said to Barzillai, "Come over with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem at my side."

Please let your servant return, so that I may die in my own town, near the graves of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do for him whatever seems good to you."

The king answered, "Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you; and all that you desire of me I will do for you."

David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to look after the house, and put them in a house under guard, and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom; take your lord's servants and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities for himself, and escape from us."

And one of Joab's men took his stand by Amasa, and said, "Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab."

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord . The Lord said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death."

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? How shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord ?"

The Gibeonites said to him, "It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel." He said, "What do you say that I should do for you?"