2 Samuel 15:14-23 ▼

14 So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, for otherwise there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go in haste, lest he overtake us hastily and drive calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

15 Then the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.”

16 So the king went out and all his household with him. But the king left ten concubines to keep the house.

17 And the king went out and all the people with him, and they stopped at the last house.

18 Now all his servants passed on beside him, all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had come with him from Gath, passed on before the king.

19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why will you also go with us? Return and remain with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile; return to your own place.

20 You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander with us, going about, while I go where I go? Return and cause your brothers to return; lovingkindness and truth be with you.”

21 But Ittai answered the king and said, “As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.”

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

23 While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people passed over. The king also passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness.