2 Samuel 15:1-19

1After this, Absalom got himself a chariot, horses, and fifty men to run before him.

2He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for settlement, Absalom called out to him and asked, “What city are you from?” If he replied, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,”

3Absalom said to him, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king does not have anyone to listen to you.”

4He added, “If only someone would appoint me judge in the land. Then anyone who had a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would make sure he received justice.”

5When a person approached to pay homage to him, Absalom reached out his hand, took hold of him, and kissed him.

6Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for a settlement. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

7When four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I made to the Lord.

8For your servant made a vow when I lived in Geshur of Aram, saying, ‘If the Lord really brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.’”

9“Go in peace,” the king said to him. So he went to Hebron.

10Then Absalom sent agents throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’”

11Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom. They had been invited and were going innocently, for they did not know the whole situation.

12While he was offering the sacrifices, Absalom sent for David’s adviser Ahithophel the Gilonite, from his city of Giloh. So the conspiracy grew strong, and the people supporting Absalom continued to increase.

13Then an informer came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

14David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Get up. We have to flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! Leave quickly, or he will overtake us quickly, heap disaster on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

15The king’s servants said to the king, “Whatever my lord the king decides, we are your servants.”

16Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

17So the king set out, and all the people followed him. They stopped at the last house

18while all his servants marched past him. Then all the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and the people of Gath — six hundred men who came with him from there  — marched past the king.

19The king said to Ittai of Gath, “Why are you also going with us? Go back and stay with the new king since you’re both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.