Study Desk

honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd for David and his people to eat. For they said, "The people have become hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness."

Then David reviewed his troops and appointed over them commanders of hundreds and of thousands.

Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the tangled branches of a large oak, Absalom's head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.

But Joab declared, "I am not going to wait like this with you!" And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.

They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.

During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King's Valley, for he had said, "I have no son to preserve the memory of my name." So he gave the pillar his name, and to this day it is called Absalom's Monument.

Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, "Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the LORD has avenged him of his enemies."

And that day's victory was turned into mourning for all the people, because on that day they were told, "The king is grieving over his son."

But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, "O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!"

So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: "Behold, the king is sitting in the gate." So they all came before the king. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled, each man to his home.

Then King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: "Say to the elders of Judah, 'Why should you be the last to restore the king to his palace, since the talk of all Israel has reached the king at his quarters?

along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan before the king

and crossed at the ford to carry over the king's household and to do what was good in his sight. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king

Then Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely.

And Mephibosheth said to the king, "Instead, since my lord the king has safely come to his own house, let Ziba take it all!"

Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and send him on his way from there.

Soon all the men of Israel came to the king and asked, "Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, together with all of David's men?"

Now a worthless man named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite, happened to be there, and he blew the ram's horn and shouted: "We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse's son. Every man to his tent, O Israel!"

When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

And while they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa joined them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire, and over it was a belt around his waist with a dagger in its sheath. As he stepped forward, the sword fell out.