He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel,<n id="1" /> both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake,<n id="2" /> and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home.<n id="3" />

David seized from him 1,700 charioteers<n id="1" /> and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of the chariot horses.<n id="2" />

The king asked, &#8220;Is there not someone left from Saul&#8217;s family,<n id="1" /> that I may extend God&#8217;s kindness to him?&#8221; Ziba said to the king, &#8220;One of Jonathan&#8217;s sons is left; both of his feet are crippled.&#8221;

All his servants were leaving with him,<n id="1" /> along with all the Kerethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites &#8211; some six hundred men who had come on foot from Gath. They were leaving with<n id="2" /> the king.p>

<p class="bodytext">As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then King David reached<n id="1" /> Bahurim. There a man from Saul&#8217;s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> has punished you for<n id="1" /> all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the <sc>Lordsc> has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">In those days Ahithophel&#8217;s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation.<n id="1" /> Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel.<n id="2" />p>

Hushai went on to say, &#8220;You know your father and his men &#8211; they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs.<n id="1" /> Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

<p class="bodytext">Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, &#8220;The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.&#8221; Now the <sc>Lordsc> had decided<n id="1" /> to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the <sc>Lordsc> could bring disaster on Absalom.p>

Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married<n id="1" /> Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab&#8217;s mother.)

They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes.<n id="1" />p>

But Joab said to him, &#8220;You will not be a bearer of good news today. You will bear good news some other day, but not today,<n id="1" /> for the king&#8217;s son is dead.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Now David was sitting between the inner and outer gates,<n id="1" /> and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate at the wall. When he looked, he saw a man running by himself.

The watchman said, &#8220;It appears to me that the first runner is Ahimaaz<n id="1" /> son of Zadok.&#8221; The king said, &#8220;He is a good man, and he comes with good news.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they<n id="1" /> all came before him.p><t /><p class="bodytext">But the Israelite soldiers<n id="2" /> had all fled to their own homes.<n id="3" />

There were a thousand men from Benjamin with him, along with Ziba the servant<n id="1" /> of Saul&#8217;s household, and with him his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They hurriedly crossed<n id="2" /> the Jordan within sight of the king.

But David said, &#8220;What do we have in common,<n id="1" /> you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don&#8217;t you realize that today I am king over Israel?&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba&#8217;s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab<n id="1" /> blew the trumpet, and his men<n id="2" /> dispersed from the city, each going to his own home.<n id="3" /> Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.p>

<p class="bodytext">The Gibeonites said to him, &#8220;We<n id="1" /> have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family,<n id="2" /> nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.&#8221; David asked,<n id="3" /> &#8220;What then are you asking me to do for you?&#8221;