The king’s servants replied to the king, “We will do whatever our lord the king decides.” ¹ 

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.

Jonadab said to the king, “Look! The king’s sons have come! It’s just as I said!”

The king said to Shimei, “You won’t die.” The king vowed an oath ¹  concerning this.

I, the servant of my lord ¹  the king, give it all to the king!” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God show you favor!”

So Joab went to the king and informed him. The king ¹  summoned Absalom, and he came to the king. Absalom ²  bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and the king kissed him. ³ 

The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba told the king, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your home and relax.” ¹  When Uriah left the palace, the king sent a gift to him. ² 

Then Absalom went to the king and said, “My shearers have begun their work. ¹  Let the king and his servants go with me.”

Now don’t let my lord the king be concerned about the report that has come saying, ‘All the king’s sons are dead.’ It is only Amnon who is dead.”

Just as he finished speaking, the king’s sons arrived, wailing and weeping. ¹  The king and all his servants wept loudly ²  as well.

So the Tekoan woman went ¹  to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me, ²  O king!”

The Tekoan woman said to the king, “My lord the king, let any blame fall on me and on the house of my father. But let the king and his throne be innocent!”

The woman said, “Why have you devised something like this against God’s people? When the king speaks in this fashion, he makes himself guilty, for the king has not brought back the one he has banished.

But the king said, “Let him go over ¹  to his own house. He may not see my face.” So Absalom went over ²  to his own house; he did not see the king’s face.

So the king and all the members of his royal court ¹  set out on foot, though the king left behind ten concubines ²  to attend to the palace.

The king said to Ziba, “Everything that was Mephibosheth’s now belongs to you.” Ziba replied, “I bow before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

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

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.

When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”