1 Some time later Absalom acquired a chariot and horses, with fifty men to run ahead of him.
2 Absalom would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the gate. Whenever anyone had a case to bring to the king for judgment, Absalom would call him over and ask, "What town are you from?" When he said, "Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel,"
3 Absalom would tell him, "Look, your case is good and just, but there is nobody on the king's behalf to listen to you."
4 Absalom would go on, "If only I were made judge in the land! Then anyone with a case or a lawsuit could come to me, and I would see that he got justice."
5 When anyone came up to bow down to him, he would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him.
6 Absalom acted this way toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment, and so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
7 At the end of forty years Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go to Hebron and pay the vow I made to the LORD.
8 Your servant made a vow while I was living at Geshur in Syria: 'If the LORD really brings me back to Jerusalem, I will serve the LORD.'"
9 The king told him, "Go in peace." So he set off and went to Hebron.
10 But Absalom sent spies through all the tribes of Israel with this message: "The moment you hear the sound of the horn, say, 'Absalom has become king in Hebron!'"
11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom; they had been invited and went along innocently, knowing nothing of the matter.
12 While he offered the sacrifices, Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his town of Giloh. The conspiracy gathered strength, and the people siding with Absalom grew steadily in number.
13 A messenger came to David and said, "The hearts of the men of Israel have turned to follow Absalom."
14 David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, "Up, let us run, or none of us will escape from Absalom! Leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, bring ruin on us, and put the city to the sword."
15 The king's servants told the king, "Whatever my lord the king chooses, your servants are ready."
16 The king set out with his whole household following him, but the king left ten concubines to look after the house.
17 The king set out with all the people following him, and they halted at the last house.
18 All his servants were marching past beside him; all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had come behind him from Gath, were marching on ahead of the king.
19 The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why are you coming with us too? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner, an exile from your own place as well.
20 You came only yesterday; should I set you wandering with us today, when I am going wherever I can? Go back, and take your brothers back with you. Steadfast love and faithfulness be with you."
21 But Ittai answered the king, "As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, for death or for life, there your servant will be."
22 David told Ittai, "Go on, then, march past." So Ittai the Gittite marched past with all his men and all the little ones with him.
23 The whole countryside was weeping aloud as all the people marched past. The king crossed the Kidron valley, and all the people marched on toward the wilderness road.
24 Zadok was there too, and all the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar went up, until all the people had finished marching out of the city.
25 The king told Zadok, "Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD's sight, he will bring me back and let me see it and its dwelling again.
26 But if he says, 'I take no pleasure in you,' here I am; let him do to me whatever seems good to him."
27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, "Are you not a seer? Go back to the city in peace, with your two sons, your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan.
28 I will be waiting at the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to let me know."
29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.
30 David went on up the slope of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he climbed, his head covered and his feet bare. All the people with him covered their heads too and went up weeping as they climbed.
31 David was told, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom." David said, "LORD, turn Ahithophel's advice into folly, please."
32 As David reached the top, where people would bow down to God, there was Hushai the Archite coming to meet him, his coat torn and earth on his head.
33 David told him, "If you come along with me, you will be a burden to me.
34 But if you go back to the city and tell Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; I was your father's servant before, and now I will be yours,' then you can thwart Ahithophel's advice for me.
35 Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Whatever you hear from the palace, report to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
36 Their two sons are there with them, Zadok's son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan; send me everything you hear through them."
37 So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.