It happened afterward that Absalom made himself a chariot with horses and fifty men running before him. Absalom used to rise early in the morning, and he stood beside the road at the gate; anyone who had a legal dispute to bring to the king for judgment Absalom would call to him and say, "Where are you from?" And he would say, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel." Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your case is good and right, but for you there is no hearing with the king." Then Absalom would say, "Oh, that someone would appoint me as judge in the land, that anyone might come to me who had a legal dispute or a case, and I would give him justice." It happened whenever anyone drew near to do obeisance to him, that he would stretch his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom did like this to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

It happened at the end of four years that Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow which I have made to Yahweh in Hebron, for your servant made a vow while I was staying in Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If Yahweh will indeed let me return to Jerusalem, then I will worship Yahweh.’" Then the king said to him, "Go in peace." So he got up and went to Hebron. Then Absalom sent scouts throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "When you hear the sound of the trumpet, you shall shout ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’" Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom as invited guests, going in their innocence as they did not know anything. Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the advisor of David, from his city Giloh, while he offered the sacrifices. The conspiracy grew in strength, and the people were going and increasing with Absalom.

Then the messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom." Then David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, "Get up and let us flee, for there will be no escape for us from Absalom! Hurry to go, otherwise he will come quickly and overtake us! And he will bring disaster on us and evil! He will attack the city with the edge of the sword!" Then the servants of the king said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king chooses, your servants are ready to act!" The king went out with all his household following him, but the king left behind ten concubines to look after the house. So the king went out with all the people following him, and they stopped at the last house. All his servants were passing by him: all of the Kerethites and all of the Pelethites and all of the Gittites—six hundred men who had followed him from Gath—passing before the king. The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why are you also coming with us? Return and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner; moreover, you are an exile. You are far from your place. Yesterday when you came and today, I have caused you to wander by going with us. Now I am going to where I am going; return and let your brothers return. May loyal love and faithfulness be with you." But Ittai answered the king and said, "As Yahweh lives and my lord the king lives, surely in the place wherever my lord the king shall be, if for death or if for life, surely there your servant will be." Then David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." So Ittai the Gittite passed over and all his men and all of the little children who were with him. All of the land was weeping with a loud voice as all the people were passing by and the king was crossing through the Wadi Kidron, and all the people were passing on the road to the wilderness.

Suddenly Zadok was there, and all of the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set the ark of God down, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people passed out of the city. The king said to Zadok, "Let the ark of God return to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yawheh, he will let me return and let me see him in his dwelling place. But if he says, ‘I take no pleasure in you,’ then I am ready. Let him do to me that which is good in his eyes. Then the king said to Zadok the priest, "Are you a seer? Return to the city in peace, with Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, your two sons with you. See, I am waiting at the fords of the wilderness until a word comes from you all to inform me." So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and they remained there.

Now David was going up on the Ascent of the Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and going barefoot. All the people who were with him each covered their head and wept as they went. Now David was told, "Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom." Then David said, "Please frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel, O Yahweh." It happened that as David was coming up to the summit where he used to worship God, suddenly Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him. His coat was torn and dirt was on his head. David said to him, "If you move on with me, you will be a burden to me, but if you want to return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I am your servant, O king. I used to be a servant of your father, but from then and now I will be your servant,’ then you can frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel for me. Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be with you there? It shall be that all the words you hear from the house of the king you shall tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests. Look, there with them are their two sons, Ahimaaz of Zadok and Jonathan of Abiathar. You shall send to me by means of them all the words that you hear." So Hushai the friend of David came to the city as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.

Now David passed a little from beyond the summit, and suddenly Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him with a pair of saddled donkeys; on them were two hundred loaves of bread and a hundred raisin cakes, with a hundred summer fruits and a skin of wine. The king said to Ziba, "What do you want to accomplish by bringing these?" And Ziba said, "The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; the bread and the summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine is for the faint in the wilderness to drink. Then the king said, "Where is the son of your lord?" And Ziba said to the king, "He is living in Jerusalem for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel shall return the kingdom of my father to me.’" The king said to Ziba, "Look, all that was Mephibosheth’s is yours." Ziba said, "I hereby do obeisance; may I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king."

King David came up to Bahurim and suddenly a man from there was coming out from the family of the house of Saul, and his name was Shimei the son of Gera. He was cursing as he came out. And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David and at all the people and at all the mighty warriors on his right and on his left. Shimei said while cursing him, "Go out, go out, you man of bloodshed, you man of wickedness. Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the household of Saul whom you have supplanted as king, and Yahweh has given the kingship into the hand of Absalom your son. Look, you are in disaster for you are a man of blood." Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head." The king said, "What do we have in common, sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because Yahweh has said to him ‘Curse David,’ who can say, "Why have you done this?" David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "Look, my son who came out of my loins is seeking my life. Now as far as this Benjaminite, leave him alone and let him curse, for Yahweh has spoken to him. Perhaps Yahweh will look in my eye and repay good for me in place of his curse this day. Then David and his men went on the road, with Shimei going on the side of the hill beside him, cursing as he went. He threw stones beside him and threw dust in the air. When the king and all of the people who were with him arrived, he was weary, so he recovered there.

Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, had come to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. When Hushai the Arkite the friend of David came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, "Long live the king, long live the king!" Absalom said to Hushai, "This is your loyal love with your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?" Then Hushai said to Absalom, "No, rather, whom Yahweh and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, to him I will be, and with him I will remain. Furthermore, for whom have I served? Is it not in the presence of his son that I have served before your father? So shall I serve you!" Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give your advice. What shall we do?" And Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go to the concubines of your father whom he left behind to watch over the house, then all of Israel will hear that you made yourself odious to your father, and all of your followers will be motivated!" Then they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he went in to the concubines of his father before the eyes of all Israel. The counsel that Ahithophel gave in those days was regarded as when a man inquired of the word of God, so all the counsel of Ahithophel was esteemed both by David and by Absalom.

Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue after David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and weak. I will startle him, and all of the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike down the king while he is alone. Then I will return all the people to you; when all have returned, the man whom you are seeking will be dead, but all the people will be safe." The word was right in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. Then Absalom said, "Please call also for Hushai the Arkite, and let us hear what he has to say also." So Hushai came to Absalom, who said to him, "Shall we do according to this word that Ahithophel has spoken? If not, then you tell us." Then Hushai said to Absalom, "The counsel that Ahithophel gave is not good at this time." Hushai continued, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty warriors and they are enraged as a bear robbed of her offspring in the field. Your father is a man of war, so he will not spend the night with the troops. Now he has hidden himself in one of the caves or in one of the places. At the moment he falls on them the first time, whoever hears the report will say, ‘There has been a defeat among the people who follow after Absalom.’ And he is also a valiant warrior, whose heart is like the heart of the lion. He will certainly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty warrior and those who are with him are valiant warriors. I give the advice that all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba should be completely gathered to you, as the sand which is on the seashore for abundance, with you personally going into the battle. Then we will come to him in one of the places where he may be found, and we shall come upon him as the dew falls on the ground. He and all the men who are with him will not survive, not even one! Even if he withdraws to a city, all Israel will bring up ropes to that city, and they will drag him away to the valley until there is not even a pebble to be found." Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than the advice of Ahithophel." (Now Yahweh had ordained to frustrate the good counsel of Ahithophel in order for Yahweh to bring misery upon Absalom).

Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "Thus and so Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, but thus and so I have advised. So then, send quickly and tell David, ‘Don’t spend the night at the fords of the wilderness! Moreover, by all means cross over lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’" Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel, so a servant girl used to go and tell them, then they would go and tell King David, for they were not able to be seen coming to the city. But a young man saw them and told Absalom, so both of them went quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim. Now he had a well in his courtyard, so they went down there. Then the woman took and spread a covering over the opening of the well; then she spread out dried grain on it, so nothing was discovered. When the servants of Absalom came to the woman at the house, they said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And she said to them, "They crossed over the brook of water." So they searched but could not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. After they left, they came up from the well and went and told King David. They said to David, "Set out and cross over the water quickly, for thus Ahithophel has advised against you." So David and all the people who were with him set out, and they crossed over the Jordan until morning light until there was no one missing who had not crossed over the Jordan. When Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled the donkey, and he set out and went up to his house in his city. After he set his house in order, he hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors.

Now David had come to Mahanaim, and Absalom had crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. Absalom had appointed Amasa in place of Joab over the army. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who had married Abigail the daughter of Nahash the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead. Just as David had arrived in Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites and Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim brought beds and basins and objects of pottery, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, honey, curds, sheep, cheese, and cattle for David and for the people who were with him to eat. For they had thought, "The troops are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."

A psalm of David at his fleeing from the presence of Absalom, his son.

A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared Son of God in power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all those in Rome who are loved by God, called to be saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed in the whole world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, is my witness, how constantly I make mention of you, always asking in my prayers if somehow now at last I may succeed to come to you in the will of God. For I desire to see you, in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, in order to strengthen you, that is, to be encouraged together with you through our mutual faith, both yours and mine. Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that often I intended to come to you, and was prevented until now, in order that I might have some fruit among you also, just as also among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus I am eager to proclaim the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written, "But the one who is righteous by faith will live."

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and unrighteousness of people, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God made it clear to them. For from the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasoning, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God with the likeness of an image of mortal human beings and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to immorality, that their bodies would be dishonored among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed for eternity. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to degrading passions, for their females exchanged the natural relations for those contrary to nature, and likewise also the males, abandoning the natural relations with the female, were inflamed in their desire toward one another, males with males committing the shameless deed, and receiving in themselves the penalty that was necessary for their error. And just as they did not see fit to recognize God, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do the things that are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greediness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malevolence. They are gossipers, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, contrivers of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, faithless, unfeeling, unmerciful, who, although they know the requirements of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death, not only do they do the same things, but also they approve of those who do them.