2 Samuel 19
19
David’s Kingdom Restored
1It was reported to Joab, “The king is weeping. He’s mourning over Absalom.” 2That day’s victory was turned into mourning for all the troops because on that day the troops heard, “The king is grieving over his son.” 3So they returned to the city quietly that day like troops come in when they are humiliated after fleeing in battle. 4But the king covered his face#2Sm 15:30 and cried loudly, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”
5Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have shamed all your soldiers — those who saved your life as well as your sons, your wives, and your concubines — 6by loving your enemies and hating those who love you! Today you have made it clear that the commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. In fact, today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, it would be fine with you!#19:6 Lit be right in your eyes
7“Now get up! Go out and encourage#19:7 Lit speak to the heart of your soldiers, for I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will remain with you tonight.#Pr 14:28 This will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come to you from your youth until now!”
8So the king got up and sat in the city gate,#2Sm 18:4,24,33 and all the people were told, “Look, the king is sitting in the city gate.” Then they all came into the king’s presence.
Meanwhile, each Israelite had fled to his tent.#2Sm 18:17 9People throughout all the tribes of Israel were arguing among themselves, saying, “The king rescued us from the grasp of our enemies,#2Sm 8:1–14 and he saved us from the grasp of the Philistines,#2Sm 5:20; 8:1 but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.#2Sm 15:14 10But Absalom, the man we anointed over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about restoring the king?”
11King David sent word to the priests Zadok and Abiathar:#2Sm 15:29 “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to restore the king to his palace? The talk of all Israel has reached the king at his house. 12You are my brothers, my flesh and blood.#19:12 Lit my bone and my flesh#Gn 29:14; 2Sm 5:1 So why should you be the last to restore the king?’ 13And tell Amasa,#2Sm 17:25 ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood?#19:13 Lit my bone and my flesh? May God punish me and do so severely if you don’t become commander of my army from now on instead of Joab! ’”
14So he won over#19:14 Lit he turned the heart of all the men of Judah, and they unanimously sent word to the king: “Come back, you and all your servants.” 15Then the king returned. When he arrived at the Jordan, Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and escort him across the Jordan.
16Shimei son of Gera,#2Sm 16:5; 1Kg 2:8 the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17There were a thousand men from Benjamin with him. Ziba, an attendant from the house of Saul,#2Sm 16:1–4 with his fifteen sons and twenty servants also rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king. 18They forded the Jordan to bring the king’s household across and do whatever the king desired.#19:18 Lit do what is good in his eyes
When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell facedown before the king 19and said to him, “My lord, don’t hold me guilty, and don’t remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem.#2Sm 16:5–13 May the king not take it to heart. 20For your servant knows that I have sinned. But look! Today I am the first one of the entire house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”
21Abishai son of Zeruiah asked, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?” #Ex 22:28
22David answered, “Sons of Zeruiah, do we agree on anything?#2Sm 3:39; 16:10 Have you become my adversary today? Should any man be killed in Israel today? Am I not aware that today I’m king over Israel?” 23So the king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” Then the king gave him his oath.#1Kg 2:8–9,37,46
24Mephibosheth,#2Sm 9:6 Saul’s grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet, trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely. 25When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Mephibosheth, why didn’t you come with me?”
26“My lord the king,” he replied, “my servant Ziba betrayed me. Actually your servant said, ‘I’ll saddle the donkey for myself#19:26 LXX, Syr, Vg read said to him, ‘Saddle the donkey for me so that I may ride it and go with the king’ — for your servant is lame.#2Sm 4:4; 9:3 27Ziba slandered your servant to my lord the king.#2Sm 16:1–4 But my lord the king is like the angel of God,#2Sm 14:17,20 so do whatever you think best.#19:27 Lit do what is good in your eyes 28For my grandfather’s entire family deserves death from my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table.#2Sm 9:1–13 So what further right do I have to keep on making appeals to the king?”
29The king said to him, “Why keep on speaking about these matters of yours? I hereby declare: you and Ziba are to divide the land.”#2Sm 9:9; 16:4
30Mephibosheth said to the king, “Instead, since my lord the king has come to his palace safely, let Ziba take it all!”
31Barzillai the Gileadite#1Kg 2:7 had come down from Rogelim and accompanied the king to the Jordan River to see him off at the Jordan. 32Barzillai was a very old man — eighty years old — and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the needs of the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.#2Sm 17:27–29
33The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I’ll provide for you#19:33 LXX reads for your old age; Ru 4:15 at my side in Jerusalem.”
34Barzillai replied to the king, “How many years of my life are left that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? 35I’m now eighty years old.#Ps 90:10 Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of male and female singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?#2Sm 15:33 36Since your servant is only going with the king a little way across the Jordan, why should the king repay me with such a reward? 37Please let your servant return so that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham;#1Kg 2:7; Jr 41:17 let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him what seems good to you.”#19:37 Lit what is good in your eyes, also in v. 38
38The king replied, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him what seems good to you, and whatever you desire from me I will do for you.” 39So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned to his home.
40The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went with him. All the troops of Judah and half of Israel’s escorted the king. 41Suddenly, all the men of Israel came to the king. They asked him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and transport the king and his household across the Jordan, along with all of David’s men?”
42All the men of Judah responded to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our relative. Why does this make you angry? Have we ever eaten anything of the king’s or been honored at all?” #19:42 LXX reads king’s or has he given us a gift or granted us a portion
43The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king,#1Kg 11:31 so we have a greater claim to David than you. Why then do you despise us? Weren’t we the first to speak of restoring our king?” #2Sm 19:9–10 But the words of the men of Judah were harsher than those of the men of Israel.
Currently Selected:
2 Samuel 19: CSB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
2 Samuel 19
19
1And it is declared to Joab, ‘Lo, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom;’
2and the salvation on that day becometh mourning to all the people, for the people hath heard on that day, saying, ‘The king hath been grieved for his son.’
3And the people stealeth away, on that day, to go in to the city, as the people steal away, who are ashamed, in their fleeing in battle;
4and the king hath covered his face, yea, the king crieth — a loud voice — ‘My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son.’
5And Joab cometh in unto the king to the house, and saith, ‘Thou hast put to shame to-day the faces of all thy servants, those delivering thy life to-day, and the life of thy sons, and of thy daughters, and the life of thy wives, and the life of thy concubines,
6to love thine enemies, and to hate those loving thee, for thou hast declared to-day that thou hast no princes and servants, for I have known to-day that if Absalom [were] alive, and all of us to-day dead, that then it were right in thine eyes.
7‘And now, rise, go out and speak unto the heart of thy servants, for by Jehovah I have sworn, that — thou art not going out — there doth not lodge a man with thee to-night; and this [is] worse for thee than all the evil that hath come upon thee from thy youth till now.’
8And the king riseth, and sitteth in the gate, and to all the people they have declared, saying, ‘Lo, the king is sitting in the gate;’ and all the people come in before the king, and Israel hath fled, each to his tents.
9And it cometh to pass, all the people are contending through all the tribes of Israel, saying, ‘The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, yea, he himself delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he hath fled out of the land because of Absalom,
10and Absalom whom we anointed over us [is] dead in battle, and now, why are ye silent — to bring back the king?’
11And king David sent unto Zadok and unto Abiathar the priests, saying, ‘Speak ye unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye last to bring back the king unto his house? (and the word of all Israel hath come unto the king, unto his house;)
12my brethren ye [are], my bone and my flesh ye [are], and why are ye last to bring back the king?
13And to Amasa say ye, Art not thou my bone and my flesh? Thus doth God do to me, and thus He doth add, if thou art not head of the host before me all the days instead of Joab.’
14And he inclineth the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they send unto the king, ‘Turn back, thou, and all thy servants.’
15And the king turneth back, and cometh in unto the Jordan, and Judah hath come to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan,
16and Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite, who [is] from Bahurim, hasteth, and cometh down with the men of Judah, to meet king David,
17and a thousand men [are] with him from Benjamin, and Ziba servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, and they have gone prosperously over the Jordan before the king.
18And passed over hath the ferry-boat to carry over the household of the king, and to do that which [is] good in his eyes, and Shimei son of Gera hath fallen before the king in his passing over into Jordan,
19and saith unto the king, ‘Let not my lord impute to me iniquity; neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely in the day that my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, — for the king to set [it] unto his heart;
20for thy servant hath known that I have sinned; and lo, I have come to-day, first of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king.’
21And Abishai son of Zeruiah answereth and saith, ‘For this is not Shimei put to death — because he reviled the anointed of Jehovah?’
22And David saith, ‘What — to me and to you, O sons of Zeruiah, that ye are to me today for an adversary? to-day is any man put to death in Israel? for have I not known that to-day I [am] king over Israel?’
23And the king saith unto Shimei, ‘Thou dost not die;’ and the king sweareth to him.
24And Mephibosheth son of Saul hath come down to meet the king — and he prepared not his feet, nor did he prepare his upper lip, yea, his garments he washed not, even from the day of the going away of the king, till the day that he came in peace —
25and it cometh to pass, when he hath come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king saith to him, ‘Why didst thou not go with me, Mephibosheth?’
26And he saith, ‘My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for thy servant said, I saddle for me the ass, and ride on it, and go with the king, for thy servant [is] lame;
27and he uttereth slander against thy servant unto my lord the king, and my lord the king [is] as a messenger of God; and do thou that which is good in thine eyes,
28for all the house of my father have been nothing except men of death before my lord the king, and thou dost set thy servant among those eating at thy table, and what right have I any more — even to cry any more unto the king?’
29And the king saith to him, ‘Why dost thou speak any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba — share ye the field.’
30And Mephibosheth saith unto the king, ‘Yea, the whole let him take, after that my lord the king hath come in peace unto his house.’
31And Barzillai the Gileadite hath gone down from Rogelim, and passeth over the Jordan with the king, to send him away over the Jordan;
32and Barzillai [is] very aged, a son of eighty years, and he hath sustained the king in his abiding in Mahanaim, for he [is] a very great man;
33and the king saith unto Barzillai, ‘Pass thou over with me, and I have sustained thee with me in Jerusalem.’
34And Barzillai saith unto the king, ‘How many [are] the days of the years of my life, that I go up with the king to Jerusalem?
35A son of eighty years I [am] to-day; do I know between good and evil? doth thy servant taste that which I am eating, and that which I drink? do I hearken any more to the voice of singers and songstresses? and why is thy servant any more for a burden unto my lord the king?
36As a little thing, thy servant doth pass over the Jordan with the king, and why doth the king recompense me this recompense?
37Let, I pray thee, thy servant turn back again, and I die in mine own city, near the burying-place of my father and of my mother, — and lo, thy servant Chimham, let him pass over with my lord the king, and do thou to him that which [is] good in thine eyes.’
38And the king saith, ‘With me doth Chimham go over, and I do to him that which [is] good in thine eyes, yea, all that thou dost fix on me I do to thee.’
39And all the people pass over the Jordan, and the king hath passed over, and the king giveth a kiss to Barzillai, and blesseth him, and he turneth back to his place.
40And the king passeth over to Gilgal, and Chimham hath passed over with him, and all the people of Judah, and they bring over the king, and also the half of the people of Israel.
41And, lo, all the men of Israel are coming unto the king, and they say unto the king, ‘Wherefore have they stolen thee — our brethren, the men of Judah?’ (and they bring the king and his household over the Jordan, and all the men of David with him).
42And all the men of Judah answer against the men of Israel, ‘Because the king [is] near unto us, and why [is] this — ye are displeased about this matter? have we at all eaten of the king's [substance?] a gift hath he lifted up to us?’
43And the men of Israel answer the men of Judah, and say, ‘Ten parts we have in the king, and also in David more than you; and wherefore have ye lightly esteemed us, that our word hath not been first to bring back our king?’ And the word of the men of Judah is sharper than the word of the men of Israel.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society