The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.

As he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Leave! Leave! You man of bloodshed, you wicked man! ¹ 

Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ¹ 

“When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, ¹  he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed ²  the traveler who had come to visit him. ³  Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked ⁴  it for the man who had come to visit him.”

Then the watchman saw another man running. The watchman called out to the gatekeeper, “There is another man running by himself.” The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”

The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you ¹  be like that young man!”

On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹  When he approached David, the man ²  threw himself to the ground. ³ 

Then the king said to Joab, “All right! I ¹  will do this thing! Go and bring back the young man Absalom!

David said to the young man ¹  who was telling him this, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ² 

Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very crafty man.

David said to the young man who told this to him, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am an Amalekite, the son of a resident foreigner.” ¹ 

But Barzillai was very old – eighty years old, in fact – and he had taken care of the king when he stayed in Mahanaim, for he was a very rich ¹  man.

The man replied to Joab, “Even if ¹  I were receiving ²  a thousand pieces of silver, ³  I would not strike ⁴  the king’s son! In our very presence ⁵  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ⁶ 

Then King David reached ¹  Bahurim. There a man from Saul’s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached. ² 

But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it.

That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled ¹  against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute ²  his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

Now a wicked man ¹  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ²  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ³  and said, “We have no share in David; we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse! Every man go home, ⁴  O Israel!”

These are the final words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised up as the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, ¹  Israel’s beloved ²  singer of songs:

Yes! ¹  The king may ²  listen and deliver his female servant ³  from the hand of the man who seeks to remove ⁴  both me and my son from the inheritance God has given us!’ ⁵ 

and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. ¹  The entire army will return unharmed.” ²