1 Joab was told, "The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom."
2 So the victory that day turned into mourning for all the troops, for that day the troops heard it said, "The king is grieving over his son."
3 That day the troops stole into the city the way troops steal in when they are ashamed of having fled in battle.
4 The king covered his face and cried aloud, "My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!"
5 Joab came into the house to the king and said, "Today you have put to shame all your servants, who today saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines,
6 by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. You have made it plain today that commanders and servants mean nothing to you. I can see today that if Absalom were alive and all of us dead today, that would suit you fine.
7 So now get up, go out and speak to the heart of your servants. I swear by the LORD that if you do not go out, not one man will stay with you tonight, and that will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come on you from your youth until now."
8 The king got up and took his seat in the gate. All the troops were told, "The king is sitting in the gate," and all the troops came before the king. Israel meanwhile had fled, each man to his tent.
9 All the people throughout the tribes of Israel were quarreling, saying, "The king rescued us from our enemies' hand and delivered us from the Philistines' hand, and now he has fled the land because of Absalom.
10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. So why are you saying nothing about bringing the king back?"
11 King David sent word to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: "Speak to the elders of Judah and say, 'Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when what all Israel is saying has reached the king, even to his house?
12 You are my brothers, my own bone and flesh. Why should you be the last to bring the king back?'
13 And say to Amasa, 'Are you not my own bone and flesh? May God do so to me, and more besides, if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.'"
14 He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as one man, and they sent word to the king: "Come back, you and all your servants."
15 So the king came back as far as the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and bring the king across the Jordan.
16 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
17 With him were a thousand men from Benjamin, along with Ziba, the servant of Saul's house, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They plunged into the Jordan ahead of the king.
18 They went over at the ford to bring the king's household across and to do whatever he wished. Shimei son of Gera fell down before the king as he was crossing the Jordan
19 and said to the king, "Let not my lord count it against me as guilt, or remember the wrong your servant did on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Let not the king take it to heart.
20 Your servant knows that I have sinned; that is why I have come today, the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down and meet my lord the king."
21 Abishai son of Zeruiah spoke up: "Should not Shimei be put to death for this, since he cursed the LORD's anointed?"
22 David said, "What do I have in common with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should become an adversary to me today? Is anyone to be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?"
23 The king told Shimei, "You will not die," and the king swore it to him.
24 Mephibosheth son of Saul came down to meet the king. He had not tended his feet, trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king went away until the day he came home safely.
25 When he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?"
26 He said, "My lord the king, my servant tricked me. Your servant said, 'I will saddle the donkey for myself so I can ride on it and go with the king,' for your servant is lame.
27 He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do whatever seems good to you.
28 My father's whole house deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, yet you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What right do I have, then, to keep crying out to the king?"
29 The king told him, "Why go on talking about your affairs? I have said: you and Ziba are to divide the land."
30 Mephibosheth told the king, "Let him take the whole of it, now that my lord the king has come home safely."
31 Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim and had crossed the Jordan with the king, to send him on his way over the Jordan.
32 Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had supplied the king with food during his stay at Mahanaim, for he was a man of great wealth.
33 The king said to Barzillai, "Come across with me, and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem."
34 Barzillai answered the king, "How many years of life do I have left, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?
35 I am eighty years old today. Can I tell good from bad? Can your servant taste what I eat and drink? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be one more burden to my lord the king?
36 Your servant will go just a short way across the Jordan with the king. Why should the king reward me like this?
37 Let your servant go back, please, so I can die in my own town near my father's and mother's grave. But here is your servant Chimham; let him go across with my lord the king, and do for him whatever seems good to you."
38 The king said, "Chimham will go across with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you; anything you choose to ask of me I will do for you."
39 All the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he went back to his home.
40 The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went with him. All the troops of Judah, and half the troops of Israel as well, brought the king across.
41 Then all the men of Israel came to the king and asked him, "Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Jordan, and all David's men with him?"
42 All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king is our near kinsman. Why are you angry about this? Have we eaten anything at the king's expense? Has anything been carried off for us?"
43 The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, "We have ten shares in the king, and in David too we have more than you. Why then did you treat us with contempt? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?" But the men of Judah spoke more harshly than the men of Israel.