2 Samuel 15:13-37

13Then a messenger came to David, saying, “1The hearts of the men of Israel are 2with Absalom.” 14David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “3Arise and let us flee, for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Go in haste, or he will overtake us quickly and bring down calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 15Then the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.” 16So the king went out and all his household 4with him. But 5the king left ten concubines to keep the house. 17The king went out and all the people 6with him, and they stopped at the last house. 18Now all his servants passed on beside him, 7all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites, 8six hundred men who had come 9with him from Gath, passed on before the king.

19Then the king said to 10Ittai the Gittite, “Why will you also go with us? Return and remain with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile; return to your own place. 20You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander with us, while 11I go where I will? Return and take back your brothers; 12mercy and 13truth be with you.” 21But Ittai answered the king and said, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely 14wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.” 22Therefore David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” So Ittai the Gittite passed over with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. 23While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people passed over. The king also passed over 15the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward 16the way of the wilderness.

24Now behold, 17Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him 18carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and 19Abiathar came up until all the people had finished passing from the city. 25The king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then 20He will bring me back again and show me both it and 21His habitation. 26But if He should say thus, ‘22I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am, 23let Him do to me as seems good 24to Him.” 27The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Are you not 25a seer? Return to the city in peace and your 26two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28See, I am going to wait 27at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29Therefore Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and remained there.

30And David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went, and 28his head was covered and he walked 29barefoot. Then all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went. 31Now someone told David, saying, “30Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, I pray, 31make the counsel of Ahithophel foolishness.”

32It happened as David was coming to the summit, where God was worshiped, that behold, Hushai the 32Archite met him with his 33coat torn and 34dust on his head. 33David said to him, “If you pass over with me, then you will be 35a burden to me. 34But if you return to the city, and 36say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so I will now be your servant,’ then you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me. 35Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So it shall be that 37whatever you hear from the king’s house, you shall report to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36Behold 38their two sons are with them there, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son; and 39by them you shall send me everything that you hear.” 37So Hushai, 40David’s friend, came into the city, and 41Absalom came into Jerusalem.