2 Samuel · 43 verses
2 Samuel 19
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The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
David’s army has won, but the king’s grief makes the victors creep back into the city like defeated fugitives; before long, the restored kingdom is quarrelling over who had the better claim to bring him home.
A victory made to look like a defeatvv. 1–15
The news that David is mourning Absalom turns triumph upside down. The people return quietly, their victory wearing the clothes of humiliation, while David covers his face and cries out for his son. Joab, with the tact of a man carrying a bucket of cold water, tells the king that his love for the dead has made the living feel worthless. David goes out and sits in the gate, and the people come before him. Israel then begins arguing that the king who rescued them ought to be restored, so David sends Zadok and Abiathar to stir Judah, and promises Amasa Joab’s command. Judah is swayed as one man and comes to meet David at the Jordan.
Three men cross the Jordan with different accountsvv. 16–30
Shimei hurries down with Benjamin and a remarkably large household entourage, then falls before David and admits that he has sinned. Abishai wants him put to death for cursing the LORD’s anointed, but David refuses to make the day of his kingship a day of executions and swears that Shimei shall not die. Mephibosheth arrives from Jerusalem looking as though he has been preserving himself for a particularly solemn portrait: untrimmed, unwashed, and unattended from the day David left. He explains that Ziba deceived him, and David settles the matter by dividing the land between them. Mephibosheth immediately hands the whole arrangement back to Ziba, which is an unusually brisk surrender of property after a lengthy defence.
A gentle farewell, followed by an argumentvv. 31–43
Barzillai, eighty years old and wealthy enough to have provided for David at Mahanaim, comes down from Rogelim to see the king across the Jordan. David offers him a place at his side in Jerusalem, but Barzillai declines with a catalogue of failing appetites and senses, sending Chimham in his stead. David crosses, kisses Barzillai, and blesses him. Then Judah and Israel begin quarrelling over the escort: Judah says the king is their relative, while Israel counts its ten shares and its earlier call for restoration. The men of Judah speak more fiercely, which is a poor omen for the peace of a kingdom newly stitched back together.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
2 Sam 19:1Then it was reported to Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.”
2 Sam 19:2And that day’s victory was turned into mourning for all the people, because on that day they were told, “The king is grieving over his son.”
2 Sam 19:3So they returned to the city quietly that day, as people steal away in humiliation after fleeing a battle.
2 Sam 19:4But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”
2 Sam 19:5Then Joab went into the house and said to the king, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, of your wives, and of your concubines.
2 Sam 19:6You love those who hate you and hate those who love you! For you have made it clear today that the commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, it would have pleased you!
2 Sam 19:7Now therefore get up! Go out and speak comfort to your servants, for I swear by the LORD that if you do not go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the adversity that has befallen you from your youth until now!”
2 Sam 19:8So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” So they all came before the king. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled, each man to his home.
2 Sam 19:9And all the people throughout the tribes of Israel were arguing, “The king rescued us from the hand of our enemies and delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled the land because of Absalom.
2 Sam 19:10But Absalom, the man we anointed over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about restoring the king?”
2 Sam 19:11Then King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to restore the king to his palace, since the talk of all Israel has reached the king at his quarters?
2 Sam 19:12You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to restore the king?’
2 Sam 19:13And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”
2 Sam 19:14So he swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man, and they sent word to the king: “Return, you and all your servants.”
2 Sam 19:15So the king returned, and when he arrived at the Jordan, the men of Judah came to Gilgal to meet him and escort him across the Jordan.
2 Sam 19:16Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David,
2 Sam 19:17along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan before the king
2 Sam 19:18and crossed at the ford to carry over the king’s household and to do what was good in his sight. When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king
2 Sam 19:19and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.
2 Sam 19:20For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”
2 Sam 19:21But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”
2 Sam 19:22And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?”
2 Sam 19:23So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore an oath to him.
2 Sam 19:24Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely.
2 Sam 19:25And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?”
2 Sam 19:26“My lord the king,” he replied, “because I am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ But my servant Ziba deceived me,
2 Sam 19:27and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like the angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes.
2 Sam 19:28For all the house of my grandfather deserves death from my lord the king, yet you have set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right, then, do I have to keep appealing to the king?”
2 Sam 19:29The king replied, “Why say any more? I hereby declare that you and Ziba are to divide the land.”
2 Sam 19:30And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Instead, since my lord the king has safely come to his own house, let Ziba take it all!”
2 Sam 19:31Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and send him on his way from there.
2 Sam 19:32Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.
2 Sam 19:33The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.”
2 Sam 19:34But Barzillai replied, “How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?
2 Sam 19:35I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
2 Sam 19:36Your servant will go with the king only a short distance past the Jordan; why should the king repay me with such a reward?
2 Sam 19:37Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your sight.”
2 Sam 19:38The king replied, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your sight, and I will do for you whatever you desire of me.”
2 Sam 19:39So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned home.
2 Sam 19:40Then the king crossed over to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed over with him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel escorted the king.
2 Sam 19:41Soon all the men of Israel came to the king and asked, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, together with all of David’s men?”
2 Sam 19:42And all the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “We did this because the king is our relative. Why does this anger you? Have we ever eaten at the king’s expense or received anything for ourselves?”
2 Sam 19:43“We have ten shares in the king,” answered the men of Israel, “so we have more claim to David than you. Why then do you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of restoring our king?” But the men of Judah spoke more fiercely than the men of Israel.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 273 passages were voted onto 42 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 221 Samuel 11:13But Saul ordered, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.”
- 282 Samuel 9:13So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was lame in both feet.
- 311 Kings 2:7But show loving devotion to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
- 39Genesis 31:55Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.
- 43Galatians 5:20idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
- 92 Samuel 15:14And David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! We must leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap disaster on us, and put the city to the sword.”
- 132 Samuel 17:25Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab.
- 14Judges 20:1Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
- 161 Kings 2:8Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’
- 191 Samuel 22:15Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of my father’s household, for your servant knew nothing of this whole affair—not in part or in whole.”
- 21Exodus 22:28You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
- 222 Samuel 16:10But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”
- 252 Samuel 16:17“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”
- 272 Samuel 14:20Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”
- 272 Samuel 14:17And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you.’”
- 32Deuteronomy 34:7Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.
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