22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, 'Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.' But Joab replied, 'My son, why do you want to go? You don't have any news that will bring you a reward.'
23 He said, 'Come what may, I want to run.' So Joab said, 'Run!' Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.
24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone.
25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it. The king said, 'If he is alone, he must have good news.' And the man came closer and closer.
26 Then the watchman saw another man running, and he called down to the gatekeeper, 'Look, another man running alone!' The king said, 'He must be bringing good news, too.'
27 The watchman said, 'It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.' 'He's a good man,' the king said. 'He comes with good news.'
28 Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, 'All is well!' He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, 'Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up the men who lifted their hands against my lord the king.'
29 The king asked, 'Is the young man Absalom safe?' Ahimaaz answered, 'I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king's servant and me, your servant, but I don't know what it was.'
30 The king said, 'Stand aside and wait here.' So he stepped aside and stood there.
31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, 'My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has delivered you today from all who rose up against you.'
32 The king asked the Cushite, 'Is the young man Absalom safe?' The Cushite replied, 'May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.'
33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: 'O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you-O Absalom, my son, my son!'
19 Joab was told, 'The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.'
2 And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, 'The king is grieving for his son.'
3 The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle.
4 The king covered his face and cried aloud, 'O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!'
5 Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, 'Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines.
6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead.
7 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don't go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now.'
8 So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, 'The king is sitting in the gateway,' they all came before him. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.
9 Throughout the tribes of Israel, the people were all arguing with each other, saying, 'The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country because of Absalom;
10 and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?'
11 King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: 'Ask the elders of Judah, 'Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters?
12 You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?'
13 And say to Amasa, 'Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.' '
14 He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, 'Return, you and all your men.'
15 Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. Now the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.
16 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
17 With him were a thousand Benjamites, along with Ziba, the steward of Saul's household, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed to the Jordan, where the king was.
18 They crossed at the ford to take the king's household over and to do whatever he wished. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king
