After this Absalom got himself chariots and horses, and fifty men to ride before him.

And Absalom used to rise early and stand on the path of the gateway. And when any man had a suit to come before the king for jurisdiction, Absalom would call him, and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,”

Absalom would say to him, “See, your affairs are right and proper, but there is no man deputed before the king to hear you.”

And Absalom said, “Who would appoint me judge in the land? Then every man who had a suit or quarrel might come before me, and I would judge in truth.”

And whenever a man approached to bow down for him, he would stretch out his hand, and take hold of him, and kiss him.

Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who were coming before the king for a suit; so Absalom stole the heart of the men of Israel.

And at the end of forty years Absalom said to the king, “Let me go now and fulfil my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD in Hebron.

For your servant vowed a vow during my stay in Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the LORD will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will worship before the LORD.’”

The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose, and went to Hebron.

But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “When you hear the sound of the horn, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king at Hebron!’”

With Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem who were invited, and were going in their simplicity, and knew nothing at all.

And he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city Giloh, while he was slaughtering the slaughterings. And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.

And someone came telling David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have turned after Absalom.”

Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee! For there will be no escape for us from before Absalom. Go in a hurry, lest he hurry and overtake us, and makes an evil ambush against us, and strikes the city by means of the sword.”

And the king’s servants said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king says, behold, your servants.”

So the king went forth, and all the people of his house with him. And the king left ten concubines to keep the house.

And the king went forth, and all the people who were with him, and they halted at a distant place.

And all his servants passed by him. And all the archers and the slingers, and all the six hundred Gittites who had come with him from Gath, passed on before the king.

And the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Go back, and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner. So if you are exiled, go to your own place.

Yesterday you came, and shall I today drive you away to go with us, seeing I am going to a place of which I do not know I am going to? Go back, and make your brethren go back with you, and show them goodness and loyalty.”

But Ittai answered the king and said, “As the LORD is the existing One, and by the life of my lord the king, whatever place my lord the king will be, whether for death or for life, there will your servant be.”

And David said to Ittai, “Go then, pass on.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on, and all his men and all the little ones who were with him.

And all the inhabitants of the land wept aloud as all the people passed by. And the king passed by through the wadi Kidron, and all the people passed by on the road in the desert.

And behold, also Zadok and all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and they set up the ark of the LORD. And Abiathar stopped until all the people had passed out of the city.

Then the king said to Zadok, “Bring back the ark of the LORD to the city. If I find favour before the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see before Him, and I shall worship before Him in his sanctuary.

but if He speaks like this, ‘There is no delight in you before Me,’ here am I. Let him do what seems right before Him.”

The king said to Zadok the priest, “You are the seer. Go back to the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

Perceive that I will be staying in the valleys of the desert, until word reaches me from you to inform me.”

So Zadok and Abiathar brought the ark of the LORD back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.

But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up, with his head covered. And he was going barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered their head, and they went up, weeping while they were going up.

And when it was told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom,” David said, “Ruin the counsel of Ahithophel now, O LORD.”

When David came to the top of the mount, where he used to bow down before the LORD, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him, with his clothes torn and earth thrown upon his head.

David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden for me.

But if you return to the city, and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father’s servant formerly, so now I will be your servant.’ So you will ruin Ahithophel’s counsel for me.

Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So whatever word you hear from the king’s house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Behold, their two sons are with them there, Ahimaaz of Zadok and Jonathan of Abiathar. And by them you shall send to me everything you hear.”

So Hushai, David’s close friend, came into the city, just as Absalom came to Jerusalem.