The king told Joab, the general in command of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the size of the army.”

So Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what Absalom had instructed. Then all the king’s sons got up; each one rode away on his mule and fled.

So the king returned and came to the Jordan River. ¹  Now the people of Judah ²  had come to Gilgal to meet the king and to help him ³  cross the Jordan.

Then the king said to them, “I will do whatever seems best to you.” So the king stayed beside the city gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands.

David was angry because the Lord attacked ¹  Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah, ²  which remains its name to this very day.

So the Lord sent Nathan ¹  to David. When he came to David, ²  Nathan ³  said, ⁴  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

Now David ¹  had been told, “Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom. So David prayed, ²  “Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O Lord!”

So Gad went to David that day and told him, “Go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. ¹  When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”

So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. ¹  By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

So David was no longer willing to bring the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. David left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them. ¹ 

Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, ¹  is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

Now when Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, he crossed the Jordan with the king so he could send him on his way from there. ¹ 

So the king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will take care of you while you are with me in Jerusalem.”

But the king’s edict stood, despite the objections of ¹  Joab and the leaders of the army. So Joab and the leaders of the army left the king’s presence in order to muster the Israelite army.

Her brother Absalom said to her, “Was Amnon your brother with you? Now be quiet, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take it so seriously!” ¹  Tamar, devastated, lived in the house of her brother Absalom.

So the victory of that day was turned to mourning as far as all the people were concerned. For the people heard on that day, “The king is grieved over his son.”

They replied to the king, “As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel –