Study Desk

Absalom said to Joab, "I sent a message to you. I asked you to come here. I wanted to send you to the king to ask him why he asked me to come home from Geshur. I cannot see him, so it would have been better for me to stay in Geshur. Now let me see the king. If I have sinned, he can kill me!"

David said to Ittai, "Then come, let's go cross Kidron Brook." So Ittai from Gath and all of his people and their children crossed over Kidron Brook.

So Zadok and Abiathar took God's Holy Box back to Jerusalem and stayed there.

So David's friend Hushai went back to the city, just as Absalom arrived in Jerusalem.

David also said to Abishai and all his servants, "Look, my very own son is trying to kill me, so why shouldn't this man from the tribe of Benjamin want to do the same? Leave him alone. Let him continue to curse me. The Lord told him to do this.

So David and his men went on their way down the road. Shimei kept following David. He walked on the other side of the road by the side of the hill. He kept cursing David on his way. Shimei also threw stones and dirt at David.

King David and all his people came to the Jordan River. They were tired, so they rested and refreshed themselves there.

In the past, I served your father. So now I will serve you, David's son."

Then they put up a tent for Absalom up on the roof of the house. Absalom had sexual relations with his father's wives so that all the Israelites could see what happened.

So in those days Ahithophel's advice was very important. Both David and Absalom accepted his advice as though it were the word of God.

We will catch David wherever he is hiding and attack him with so many soldiers that they will be like the dew that covers the ground. We will kill David and all of his men—no one will be left alive.

The priests' sons, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, did not want to be seen going into the town, so they waited at En Rogel. A servant girl went out to them and gave them the message. Then Jonathan and Ahimaaz carried the message to King David.

The man's wife spread a sheet over the mouth of the well and covered it with grain. The well looked like a pile of grain, so no one would know to look there.

Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house. They asked, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said to Absalom's servants, "They have already crossed over the brook." Absalom's servants then went to look for Jonathan and Ahimaaz, but they could not find them. So Absalom's servants went back to Jerusalem.

So David and his people crossed over the Jordan River. By sunrise, all of David's people had crossed the Jordan River. No one was left behind.

These three men said, "The people are tired, hungry, and thirsty from the desert." So they brought many things to David and those with him. They brought beds, bowls, and other kinds of dishes. They also brought wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, dried seeds, honey, butter, sheep, and cheese made from cow's milk.

It so happened that David's officers found Absalom. Absalom jumped on his mule and tried to escape, but the mule went under the branches of a large oak tree. The branches were thick, and Absalom's head got caught in the tree. His mule ran out from under him, so Absalom was left hanging above the ground.

While Absalom was alive he put up a memorial stone in King's Valley. He said, "I have no son to keep my name alive." So he named that monument after himself. It is called "Absalom's Monument" even today.

Then Joab said to a man from Ethiopia, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Ethiopian bowed to Joab and ran to tell David.

So the king knew Absalom was dead and he became very upset. He went upstairs to the room over the gate, crying, "O my son Absalom! My son Absalom, I wish I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son!"