Information Retrieved -> 2 Samuel 15 - 16(NLT)

Book Chapter Verse Text
2 Samuel 15 1 After this, Absalom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty footmen to run ahead of him.
2 Samuel 15 2 He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absalom would ask where they were from, and they would tell him their tribe.
2 Samuel 15 3 Then Absalom would say, "You've really got a strong case here! It's too bad the king doesn't have anyone to hear it.
2 Samuel 15 4 I wish I were the judge. Then people could bring their problems to me, and I would give them justice!"
2 Samuel 15 5 And when people tried to bow before him, Absalom wouldn't let them. Instead, he took them by the hand and embraced them.
2 Samuel 15 6 So in this way, Absalom stole the hearts of all the people of Israel.
2 Samuel 15 7 After four years, Absalom said to the king, "Let me go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice to the LORD in fulfillment of a vow I made to him.
2 Samuel 15 8 For while I was at Geshur, I promised to sacrifice to him in Hebron if he would bring me back to Jerusalem."
2 Samuel 15 9 "All right," the king told him. "Go and fulfill your vow." So Absalom went to Hebron.
2 Samuel 15 10 But while he was there, he sent secret messengers to every part of Israel to stir up a rebellion against the king. "As soon as you hear the trumpets," his message read, "you will know that Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron."
2 Samuel 15 11 He took two hundred men from Jerusalem with him as guests, but they knew nothing of his intentions.
2 Samuel 15 12 While he was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David's counselors who lived in Giloh. Soon many others also joined Absalom, and the conspiracy gained momentum.
2 Samuel 15 13 A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell King David, "All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you!"
2 Samuel 15 14 "Then we must flee at once, or it will be too late!" David urged his men. "Hurry! If we get out of the city before he arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be spared from disaster."
2 Samuel 15 15 "We are with you," his advisers replied. "Do what you think is best."
2 Samuel 15 16 So the king and his household set out at once. He left no one behind except ten of his concubines to keep the palace in order.
2 Samuel 15 17 The king and his people set out on foot, and they paused at the edge of the city
2 Samuel 15 18 to let David's troops move past to lead the way. There were six hundred Gittites who had come with David from Gath, along with the king's bodyguard.
2 Samuel 15 19 Then the king turned to Ittai, the captain of the Gittites, and asked, "Why are you coming with us? Go on back with your men to King Absalom, for you are a guest in Israel, a foreigner in exile.
2 Samuel 15 20 You arrived only yesterday, and now should I force you to wander with us? I don't even know where we will go. Go on back and take your troops with you, and may the LORD show you his unfailing love and faithfulness. "
2 Samuel 15 21 But Ittai said to the king, "I vow by the LORD and by your own life that I will go wherever you go, no matter what happens--whether it means life or death."
2 Samuel 15 22 David replied, "All right, come with us." So Ittai and his six hundred men and their families went along.
2 Samuel 15 23 There was deep sadness throughout the land as the king and his followers passed by. They crossed the Kidron Valley and then went out toward the wilderness.
2 Samuel 15 24 Abiathar and Zadok and the Levites took the Ark of the Covenant of God and set it down beside the road. Then they offered sacrifices there until everyone had passed by.
2 Samuel 15 25 David instructed Zadok to take the Ark of God back into the city. "If the LORD sees fit," David said, "he will bring me back to see the Ark and the Tabernacle again.
2 Samuel 15 26 But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him."
2 Samuel 15 27 Then the king told Zadok the priest, "Look, here is my plan. You and Abiathar should return quietly to the city with your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan.
2 Samuel 15 28 I will stop at the shallows of the Jordan River and wait there for a message from you. Let me know what happens in Jerusalem before I disappear into the wilderness."
2 Samuel 15 29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the Ark of God back to the city and stayed there.
2 Samuel 15 30 David walked up the road that led to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning. And the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the mountain.
2 Samuel 15 31 When someone told David that his adviser Ahithophel was now backing Absalom, David prayed, "O LORD, let Ahithophel give Absalom foolish advice!"
2 Samuel 15 32 As they reached the spot at the top of the Mount of Olives where people worshiped God, David found Hushai the Arkite waiting for him. Hushai had torn his clothing and put dirt on his head as a sign of mourning.
2 Samuel 15 33 But David told him, "If you go with me, you will only be a burden.
2 Samuel 15 34 Return to Jerusalem and tell Absalom, `I will now be your adviser, just as I was your father's adviser in the past.' Then you can frustrate and counter Ahithophel's advice.
2 Samuel 15 35 Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, are there. Tell them the plans that are being made to capture me,
2 Samuel 15 36 and they will send their sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan to find me and tell me what is going on."
2 Samuel 15 37 So David's friend Hushai returned to Jerusalem, getting there just as Absalom arrived.
2 Samuel 16 1 David was just past the top of the hill when Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, caught up with him. He was leading two donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred clusters of raisins, one hundred bunches of summer fruit, and a skin of wine.
2 Samuel 16 2 "What are these for?" the king asked Ziba. And Ziba replied, "The donkeys are for your people to ride on, and the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat. The wine is to be taken with you into the wilderness for those who become faint."
2 Samuel 16 3 "And where is Mephibosheth?" the king asked him. "He stayed in Jerusalem," Ziba replied. "He said, `Today I will get back the kingdom of my grandfather Saul.'"
2 Samuel 16 4 "In that case," the king told Ziba, "I give you everything Mephibosheth owns.Thank you, sir," Ziba replied. "I will always do whatever you want me to do."
2 Samuel 16 5 As David and his party passed Bahurim, a man came out of the village cursing them. It was Shimei son of Gera, a member of Saul's family.
2 Samuel 16 6 He threw stones at the king and the king's officers and all the mighty warriors who surrounded them.
2 Samuel 16 7 "Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!" he shouted at David.
2 Samuel 16 8 "The LORD is paying you back for murdering Saul and his family. You stole his throne, and now the LORD has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, you murderer!"
2 Samuel 16 9 "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?" Abishai son of Zeruiah demanded. "Let me go over and cut off his head!"
2 Samuel 16 10 "No!" the king said. "What am I going to do with you sons of Zeruiah! If the LORD has told him to curse me, who am I to stop him?"
2 Samuel 16 11 Then David said to Abishai and the other officers, "My own son is trying to kill me. Shouldn't this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to do it.
2 Samuel 16 12 And perhaps the LORD will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses."
2 Samuel 16 13 So David and his men continued on, and Shimei kept pace with them on a nearby hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones at David and tossing dust into the air.
2 Samuel 16 14 The king and all who were with him grew weary along the way, so they rested when they reached the Jordan River.
2 Samuel 16 15 Meanwhile, Absalom and his men arrived at Jerusalem, accompanied by Ahithophel.
2 Samuel 16 16 When David's friend Hushai the Arkite arrived, he went immediately to see Absalom. "Long live the king!" he exclaimed. "Long live the king!"
2 Samuel 16 17 "Is this the way you treat your friend David?" Absalom asked him. "Why aren't you with him?"
2 Samuel 16 18 "I'm here because I work for the man who is chosen by the LORD and by Israel," Hushai replied.
2 Samuel 16 19 "And anyway, why shouldn't I serve you? I helped your father, and now I will help you!"
2 Samuel 16 20 Then Absalom turned to Ahithophel and asked him, "What should I do next?"
2 Samuel 16 21 Ahithophel told him, "Go and sleep with your father's concubines, for he has left them here to keep the house. Then all Israel will know that you have insulted him beyond hope of reconciliation, and they will give you their support."
2 Samuel 16 22 So they set up a tent on the palace roof where everyone could see it, and Absalom went into the tent to sleep with his father's concubines.
2 Samuel 16 23 Absalom followed Ahithophel's advice, just as David had done. For every word Ahithophel spoke seemed as wise as though it had come directly from the mouth of God.
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