1And they said to Yuab “Behold, the King weeps and is grieved for Abishlum!" 2And all the people grieved on that day, because the people heard on that day that the King grieved for his son 3And the people entering into the city on that day hid themselves as people hide who are ashamed when escaping from battle 4And the King covered his face and wailed in a loud voice and said my son: “Abishlum! My son! My son, Abishlum!” 5And Yuab came into the presence of the King and said to him: “Today you have shamed the faces of all your Servants who saved your life today, and the life of your sons, and of your daughters, and the life of your wives and the life of your Concubines 6And you have loved your haters and you have hated your lovers, and you have shown today that you have nothing, no Nobles and no Servants! I know today that if Abishlum were alive and we were all dead, it would be beautiful in your eyes! 7Now get up, go out and speak with your Servants, because I have sworn by LORD JEHOVAH that if you do not go out, you will not have one man left tonight, and this is worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth and until now!”

8And the King arose and sat down at the gate, and they told all the people and they said: “Behold, the King sits at the gate!” And all the people came before the King, and Israel fled, each man, to his tent 9And all the people were thinking in all the tribes of Israel and they were saying: “The King has saved us from the hand of all our enemies, and he delivered us from the hand of the Philistines! Now come, let us escape for our lives from the land which was after Abishlum 10For Abishlum whom we anointed and we raised up over us has died in battle.” And they said, each man to his neighbor: “Why therefore are you hesitating to return yourselves with the King?

11Come, we shall return him to his house!” And the word of all of the children of Israel entered before the King 12And he said to them: “You are my brethren and my flesh and my bones. Why are you last to return yourselves with the King to his house? And the word of all Israel came to the King 13And he said to Amasa: “Behold, you are my flesh and my bones. So God shall do to me and thus he will add to me unless you will be the General of the army before me all the days in the place of Yuab!” 14And he turned the heart of all of them of the house of Yehuda as one man, and they sent to the King and they said to him: “You return and all of your Servants!”

15And the King returned and he came unto the Jordan, and Yehuda came to Galgala to go to the meeting of the King to bring the King across the Jordan

16And Shemei, son of Gera, son of Benjamin, made haste and he came down with the men of Yehuda to meet King David 17And Tsiba the Boy Servant of Shaul and his fifteen sons and his twenty Servants with him crossed over, and they made a bridge for the Jordan before the King

18And they made ferry boats that the household of the King would pass over and to do whatever was pleasing in his eyes, and Shemi, son of Gera, fell before the King when he crossed over the Jordan 19And he said to the King: “Let not my Lord account to me evil doing and do not remember against me the thing that your Servant committed that day when my Lord the King had gone out from Jerusalem; let not my Lord the King bring it upon his heart 20I, your Servant, know that I have sinned and, behold, I have come today, I have preceded all of the house of Yoseph and I came down to meet my Lord the King!” 21Abishi son of Tsuria answered and he said: “Because of this, should not also Shemei die who cursed the Anointed of LORD JEHOVAH?!” 22David said: “What do I have to do with you, you sons of Tsuria, that you are Satan to me today? Today no man shall die in Israel! Do I not know today that I am King in Israel?” 23The King said to Shemei: “Surely, you shall not die!” And the King swore to him

24And Maphibshath, son of Jonathan, son of Shaul, went down to the meeting of the King and had not trimmed his beard and he had not changed his garments from the day that the King left and until the day that the King came in peace 25And when he came to Jerusalem to the meeting of the King, the King said to Maphibshath: “Why did you not go with me?” 26Maphibshath said to him: “My Lord King, my Servant deceived me, for I said to him, ‘Mount me on the donkey. I will ride upon him and I shall go with my Lord the King’, because your Servant is lame 27And my Servant deceived me, my Lord King, and you, my Lord King, are as an Angel of God! Do whatever is excellent in your eyes! 28Because all the house of my father have been condemned to death by you, my Lord King, and you considered your Servant a diner at your table, therefore I cannot justify myself, neither speak before my Lord the King!” 29The King said to him: “It is enough! You have spoken your words. I have said that between you and Tsiba the fields are divided!” 30Maphibshath said to the King: “Let him therefore take all the produce also, because my Lord the King has come in peace to his house!”

31And Barzali the Galadite came down from Dublin, and he crossed over the Jordan with the King to take leave of him from there 32And Barzali was very old and was a son of eighty years, and he had sustained the King when he had dwelt in Makhnim because he was a great man 33The King said to Barzali: “You cross with me also, and I shall sustain you with me in Jerusalem” 34Barzali said to the King: “How many are the years of my life that I would go up with the King to Jerusalem? 35I am a son of eighty years today, and I do not know between good and bad, and anything that your Servant eats and anything that he drinks he does not taste it, also I cannot hear the voice of a nobleman or a lady. Why would your Servant be a burden again to my Lord the King? 36For your Servant crosses with difficulty the Jordan with my Lord the King. Let not my Lord the King reward me this reward! 37Let your Servant stay. I shall die in my city by the side of the tomb of my father and of my mother. See your Servant with you, my son Bemhem; let him pass with you my Lord King and do for him whatever is good in your eyes!” 38And the King said: “Bemhem will cross with me, and I shall do for him everything that is pleasing in my eyes, and all that you have desired from me I shall do for you!” 39And all the people crossed over the Jordan, also the King crossed over, and the King kissed Barzali and he blessed him and he returned to his place

40And the King crossed over to Galgala and Bemhem crossed over with him, and all the people of Yehuda with the King, also half of the people of Israel

41And all Israel came to the King and they were saying to the King: “Why have our brethren, the men of Yehuda, hidden you, and have carried you over the Jordan, you, oh King, and all the children of your household, and all of the household of Yehuda with you?” 42And all of the household of Yehuda answered, and they were saying to those of the house of Israel, “Because the King is near to us. Why did it seem evil to you concerning this matter? Have we eaten with the King, or has a gift been given to us from him?” 43They of the house of Israel answered and they were saying to those of the house of Yehuda: “We also have ten parts with King David more than you. Why did you leave us? For it was proper that we would be first to return the King!” And the word of the house of Yehuda was stronger than the word of the house of Israel