2 Samuel · 37 verses
2 Samuel 15
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
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.
Absalom went to Hebron with a vow on his lips, sacrifices before him, and a horn ready to announce that he reigned there.
A judge by the gate, a king at Hebronvv. 1–12
Absalom began with excellent public manners and a rather grand arrangement of horses, chariot, and fifty runners. He stood by the road to the city gate, discovered that the king had no deputy for grievances, and kissed everyone who bowed to him; thus, by offering justice in theory and affection in person, he stole the hearts of Israel. Four years later, a vow to worship in Hebron provided the reason for a journey whose real announcement was waiting for the sound of a horn. Two hundred guests came along innocently, while Absalom offered sacrifices and summoned Ahithophel from Giloh. The conspiracy, as conspiracies are apt to do once a counsellor arrives, gained strength.
David leaves Jerusalemvv. 13–23
The news reached David in Jerusalem with remarkable economy: Israel’s hearts were with Absalom. David ordered a flight before the city could be put to the sword, and his servants answered that they were his servants whatever he decided. The household went out, though ten concubines remained to care for the palace. At the last house, David paused while the Cherethites, Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites passed by. He urged Ittai, a foreigner and recent exile, to turn back; Ittai replied with the splendid simplicity of a man who had made up his mind. Then the countryside wept, and the whole procession crossed the Kidron toward the wilderness.
The ark returns; Hushai turns backvv. 24–37
Zadok and Abiathar brought out the ark, set it down, and offered sacrifices until the people had gone. David then sent the ark back to Jerusalem, leaving the question of his own return to the LORD’s judgment. He went up the Mount of Olives weeping, barefoot and with his head covered, while news arrived that Ahithophel had joined the conspiracy. At the summit, Hushai appeared in torn robes and dust, and David gave him a curious commission: return to Jerusalem, offer himself to Absalom as a servant, and pass the palace news through Zadok and Abiathar and their sons. Hushai arrived just as Absalom entered the city, a neat meeting of opposite errands.
The text
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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 15:1Some time later, Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.
2 Sam 15:2He 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 a decision, Absalom would call out and ask, “What city are you from?” And if he replied, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,”
2 Sam 15:3Absalom would say, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king has no deputy to hear you.”
2 Sam 15:4And he would add, “If only someone would appoint me judge in the land, then everyone with a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would give him justice.”
2 Sam 15:5Also, when anyone approached to bow down to him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him.
2 Sam 15:6Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
2 Sam 15:7After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the LORD.
2 Sam 15:8For your servant made a vow while dwelling in Geshur of Aram, saying: ‘If indeed the LORD brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the LORD in Hebron.’”
2 Sam 15:9“Go in peace,” said the king. So Absalom got up and went to Hebron.
2 Sam 15:10Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’”
2 Sam 15:11Two hundred men from Jerusalem accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and they went along innocently, for they knew nothing about the matter.
2 Sam 15:12While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from his hometown of Giloh. So the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept increasing.
2 Sam 15:13Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”
2 Sam 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.”
2 Sam 15:15The king’s servants replied, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.”
2 Sam 15:16Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.
2 Sam 15:17So the king set out with all the people following him. He stopped at the last house,
2 Sam 15:18and all his servants marched past him—all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath.
2 Sam 15:19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.
2 Sam 15:20In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go back and take your brothers with you. May the LORD show you loving devotion and faithfulness.”
2 Sam 15:21But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!”
2 Sam 15:22“March on then,” said David to Ittai. So Ittai the Gittite marched past with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.
2 Sam 15:23Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness.
2 Sam 15:24Zadok was also there, and all the Levites with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had passed out of the city.
2 Sam 15:25Then the king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place again.
2 Sam 15:26But if He should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.”
2 Sam 15:27The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace—you with your son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar with his son Jonathan.
2 Sam 15:28See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”
2 Sam 15:29So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and stayed there.
2 Sam 15:30But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.
2 Sam 15:31Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
2 Sam 15:32When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.
2 Sam 15:33David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me.
2 Sam 15:34But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’
2 Sam 15:35Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Report to them everything you hear from the king’s palace.
2 Sam 15:36Indeed, their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with everything you hear.”
2 Sam 15:37So David’s friend Hushai arrived in Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.
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. 317 passages were voted onto 34 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 312 Samuel 17:14Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
- 312 Samuel 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
- 31Psalms 41:9Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
- 21Ruth 1:16–17But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
- 261 Samuel 3:18So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him. “He is the LORD,” replied Eli. “Let Him do what is good in His eyes.”
- 31James 3:15Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
- 21Proverbs 17:17A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
- 31Job 5:12He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.
- 4Judges 9:29If only this people were under my authority, I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, ‘Muster your army and come out!’”
- 6Romans 16:18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
- 122 Samuel 15:31Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
- 201 Samuel 23:13Then David and his men, about six hundred strong, set out and departed from Keilah, moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he declined to go forth.
- 311 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
- 311 Corinthians 3:18–20Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
- 11 Kings 1:5At that time Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, began to exalt himself, saying, “I will be king!” And he acquired chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him.
- 12Joshua 15:51Goshen, Holon, and Giloh—eleven cities, along with their villages.
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