2 Samuel 15:1-9 ▼

1 Sometime later, Absalom acquired a chariot equipped with horses and recruited 50 men to accompany him.

2 Then he would get up early, stand near the passageway to the palace gate, and when anyone arrived to file a legal complaint for a hearing before the king, Absalom would call to him and ask, |You're from what city?| If he replied, |Your servant is from one of Israel's tribes,|

3 Absalom would respond, |Look, your claims are valid and defensible, but nobody will listen to you on behalf of the king.

4 Who will appoint me to be a judge in the land? When anyone arrived to file a legal complaint or other cause, he could approach me for justice and I would settle it!|

5 Furthermore, if a man approached him to bow down in front of him, he would put out his hand, grab him, and embrace him.

6 By doing all of this to anyone who came to the king for a hearing, Absalom stole the loyalty of the men of Israel.

7 And so it was that forty years after Israel had demanded a king, Absalom asked the king, |Please let me go to Hebron so I can pay my vow that I made to the LORD,

8 because when I was living at Geshur in Aram, your servant made this solemn promise: 'If the LORD ever brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.'|

9 The king replied to him, |Go in peace!| So Absalom got up and left for Hebron.