Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

¹¹And Joab said unto the man that told him: 'And, behold, thou sawest it, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have had to give thee ten pieces of silver, and a girdle.' ¹²And the man said unto Joab: 'Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying: Beware that none touch the young man Absalom. ¹³Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against mine own life—and there is no matter hid from the king—then thou thyself wouldest have stood aloof.' ¹⁴Then said Joab: 'I may not tarry thus with thee.' And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the terebinth. ¹⁵And ten young men that bore Joab's armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.

      ¹⁶And Joab blew the horn, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people. ¹⁷And they took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones; and all Israel fled every one to his tent.—¹⁸Now Absalom in his life-time had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said: 'I have no son to keep my name in remembrance'; and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument unto this day.

      ¹⁹Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok: 'Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies.' ²⁰And Joab said unto him: 'Thou shalt not be the bearer of tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day; but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, forasmuch as the king's son is dead.' ²¹Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen.' And the Cushite bowed down unto Joab, and ran. ²²Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab: 'But come what may, let me, I pray thee, also run after the Cushite.' And Joab said: 'Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou wilt have no reward for the tidings?' ²³'But come what may, [said he,] I will run.' And he said unto him: 'Run.' Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and overran the Cushite.

      ²⁴Now David sat between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. ²⁵And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said: 'If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth.' And he came apace, and drew near. ²⁶And the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called unto the porter, and said: 'Behold another man running alone.' And the king said: 'He also bringeth tidings.' ²⁷And the watchman said: 'I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.' And the king said: 'He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.'

      ²⁸And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king: 'All is well.' And he bowed down before the king with his face to the earth, and said: 'Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.' ²⁹And the king said: 'Is it well with the young man Absalom?' And Ahimaaz answered: 'When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.' ³⁰And the king said: 'Turn aside, and stand here.' And he turned aside, and stood still.

      ³¹And, behold, the Cushite came; and the Cushite said: 'Tidings for my lord the king; for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee.' ³²And the king said unto the Cushite: 'Is it well with the young man Absalom?' And the Cushite answered: 'The enemies of my lord the king and all that rise up against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.'

      19And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, thus he said: 'O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! '

      ²And it was told Joab: 'Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom.' ³ And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people; for the people heard say that day: 'The king grieveth for his son.' ⁴And the people got them by stealth that day into the city, as people that are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. ⁵And the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice: 'O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son! ' ⁶And Joab came into the house to the king, and said: 'Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, who this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; ⁷in that thou lovest them that hate thee, and hatest them that love thee. For thou hast declared this day, that princes and servants are nought unto thee; for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. ⁸Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak to the heart of thy servants; for I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry a man with thee this night; and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that hath befallen thee from thy youth until now.' ⁹Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying: 'Behold, the king doth sit in the gate'; and all the people came before the king.

      Now Israel had fled every man to his tent. ¹⁰And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying: 'The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land from Absalom. ¹¹And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now, therefore, why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?'

      ¹²And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying: 'Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying: Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house?—For the speech of all Israel was come to the king, to bring him to his house.—¹³Ye are my brethren, ye are my bone and my flesh; wherefore then should ye be the last to bring back the king? ¹⁴And say ye to Amasa: Art thou not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.' ¹⁵And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so that they sent unto the king: 'Return thou, and all thy servants.'

      ¹⁶So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan. ¹⁷And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, made haste and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. ¹⁸And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him. And they rushed into the Jordan before the king. ¹⁹And the ferryboat passed to and fro to bring over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he would go over the Jordan. ²⁰And he said unto the king: 'Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did iniquitously the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. ²¹For thy servant doth know that I have sinned; therefore, behold, I am come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.' ²²But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said: 'Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord's anointed?' ²³And David said: 'What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?' ²⁴And the king said unto Shimei: 'Thou shalt not die.' And the king swore unto him.

      ²⁵And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace. ²⁶And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him: 'Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth?' ²⁷And he answered: 'My lord, O king, my servant deceived me; for thy servant said: I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go with the king; because thy servant is lame. ²⁸And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God; do therefore what is good in thine eyes. ²⁹For all my father's house were deserving of death at the hand of my lord the king; yet didst thou set thy servant among them that