Study Desk

Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "Thus and so Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, but thus and so I have advised.

So then, send quickly and tell David, ‘Don't spend the night at the fords of the wilderness! Moreover, by all means cross over lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.'"

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel, so a servant girl used to go and tell them, then they would go and tell King David, for they were not able to be seen coming to the city.

But a young man saw them and told Absalom, so both of them went quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim. Now he had a well in his courtyard, so they went down there.

Then the woman took and spread a covering over the opening of the well; then she spread out dried grain on it, so nothing was discovered.

When the servants of Absalom came to the woman at the house, they said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And she said to them, "They crossed over the brook of water." So they searched but could not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

So David and all the people who were with him set out, and they crossed over the Jordan until morning light until there was no one missing who had not crossed over the Jordan.

Then the troops said, "You will not go out, for if we must flee, then they will not care about us; even if half of us die, they will not care about us, but now, you are like ten thousand of us. And so then, it is better for us that you be in the city to help."

The king said to them, "I will do what seems good in your eyes." So the king stood at the side of the gate while all of the troops went out by hundreds and by thousands.

"Come what may, I want to run." He said to him, "Run," so Ahimaaz ran on the road on the plain, and he passed the Cushite.

Then the sentinel saw another man running, so the sentinel called to the gatekeeper and said, "Look, a man running alone." The king said, "This one also is bringing good news."

Then the king said, "Turn aside, take your place here," so he turned aside and waited.

so the victory turned to mourning on that day for all the army, because they had heard that day, "The king is grieving over his son."

So then, get up and go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by Yahweh, if you do not go out, no man will lodge this night with you, and this disaster will be greater for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your childhood until now!"

So the king got up and he sat in the gate, and they told all the army, "Look, the king is sitting in the gate." Then all the army came before the king; whereas all of Israel had fled, each to his tent.

Now Absalom whom we anointed as king over us has died in the battle; so then, why are you taking no action to restore the king?"

So he turned the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they sent word to the king, "Return, you and all your servants."

Then the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die," and so the king swore to him.

David went up to his house in Jerusalem, then the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to look after the house, and he put them under confinement. However, he provided for them, but he did not sleep with them. So they were confined until the day of their death, like a lifetime of widowhood.

So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he tarried more than the appointed time which he had set for him.