Study Desk

And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, Behold, my own son, who came forth from my loins, seeks my life; so now let this Benjamite alone, let him curse; for God has bidden him.

And again, whom should I serve? I have no choice. As I have served in your fathers presence, so will I serve before you.

So they pitched a tent for Absalom upon the roof; and Absalom went in to his fathers concubines in the sight of all Israel.

And the counsel of Ahithophel which he gave in those days was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

And I will bring back all the people to you, just as those whom you sought have come back; so all the people shall be in peace.

So we shall go against him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him there shall not be left even one.

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had decreed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel so that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

Now Nathan and Ahimaaz were standing by the side of the fountain of the palace, so they might not be seen to enter the city; and a maidservant went and told them; and they went and told King David.

So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

So the people went out into the field against Israel;

And all the people were thinking in all the tribes of Israel and saying, The king delivered us from the hand of all our enemies and rescued us from the hand of the Philistines; so now let us flee from the land and from following Absalom.

And he said to Amasa, Behold, you are my flesh and my bone. God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of my army permanently instead of Joab.

And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man; so that they sent word to the king, saying, Return you and all your servants.

So the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and bring the king over the Jordan.

So all the men of Israel ceased from following David, and followed Shamoa, the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah remained loyal to the king from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines whom he had left to keep his house and put them in custody and fed them, but did not go in unto them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, and were like widows.

So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah; but he tarried longer than the set time which had been appointed.

But Amasa took no notice of the sword that was in Joabs hand; so Joab smote him with it in the middle of his body, and let out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Shamoa, the son of Bichri.

The matter is not so; but a man of mount Ephraim, Shamoa, the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against King David; deliver him alive to me and I will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Now his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.

So the king called the Gibeonites and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal to cause the children of Israel and Judah to sin),