2 Samuel 16:16-19

16:16 When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him,¹ “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

16:17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” 16:18 Hushai replied to Absalom, “No, I will be loyal to the one whom the Lord, these people, and all the men of Israel have chosen.² 16:19 Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.”³

¹tn Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

²tn Heb “No for with the one whom the Lord has chosen, and this people, and all the men of Israel, I will be and with him I will stay.” The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוֹ (lo, “[I will be] to him”) rather than the MT לֹא (lo’, “[I will] not be”), which makes very little sense here.

³tn Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”