2 Samuel 19 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

David Returns to Jerusalem

2Sa 19:1And Joab was told, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”

2Sa 19:2So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard it said that day, “The king is grieved for his son.”

2Sa 19:3

2Sa 19:3And the people stole back into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.

2Sa 19:4

2Sa 19:4But the king covered his face, and the king cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

2Sa 19:5

2Sa 19:5Then Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who today have saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines,

2Sa 19:6

2Sa 19:6“in that you love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared today that you regard neither princes nor servants; for today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you well.

2Sa 19:7

2Sa 19:7“Now therefore, arise, go out and speak comfort to your servants. For I swear by the LORD, if you do not go out, not one will stay with you this night. And that will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now.”

2Sa 19:8

2Sa 19:8Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And they told all the people, saying, “There is the king, sitting in the gate.” So all the people came before the king. For everyone of Israel had fled to his tent.

David Returns to Jerusalem

2Sa 19:9

2Sa 19:9Now all the people were in a dispute throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king saved us from the hand of our enemies, he delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.

2Sa 19:10

2Sa 19:10“But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now therefore, why do you say nothing about bringing back the king?”

2Sa 19:11

2Sa 19:11So King David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the words of all Israel have come to the king, to his very house?

2Sa 19:12

2Sa 19:12‘You are my brethren, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’

2Sa 19:13

2Sa 19:13“And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of the army before me continually in place of Joab.’ ”

2Sa 19:14

2Sa 19:14So he swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah, just as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word to the king: “Return, you and all your servants!”

2Sa 19:15

2Sa 19:15Then the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to escort the king across the Jordan.

2Sa 19:16

2Sa 19:16And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

2Sa 19:17

2Sa 19:17There 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 went over the Jordan before the king.

2Sa 19:18

2Sa 19:18Then a ferryboat went across to carry over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Now Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had crossed the Jordan.

David’s Mercy to Shimei

2Sa 19:19

2Sa 19:19Then he said to the king, “Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember what wrong your servant did on the day that my lord the king left Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart.

2Sa 19:20

2Sa 19:20“For I, your servant, know that I have sinned. Therefore here I am, the first to come today of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”

2Sa 19:21

2Sa 19:21But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”

2Sa 19:22

2Sa 19:22And David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”

2Sa 19:23

2Sa 19:23Therefore the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore to him.

David and Mephibosheth Meet

2Sa 19:24

2Sa 19:24Now Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. And he had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace.

2Sa 19:25

2Sa 19:25So it was, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”

2Sa 19:26

2Sa 19:26And he answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go to the king,’ because your servant is lame.

2Sa 19:27

2Sa 19:27“And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is like the angel of God. Therefore do what is good in your eyes.

2Sa 19:28

2Sa 19:28“For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to cry out anymore to the king?”

2Sa 19:29

2Sa 19:29So the king said to him, “Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, ‘You and Ziba divide the land.’ ”

2Sa 19:30

2Sa 19:30Then Mephibosheth said to the king, “Rather, let him take it all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come back in peace to his own house.”

David’s Kindness to Barzillai

2Sa 19:31

2Sa 19:31And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and went across the Jordan with the king, to escort him across the Jordan.

2Sa 19:32

2Sa 19:32Now Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. And he had provided the king with supplies while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very rich man.

2Sa 19:33

2Sa 19:33And the king said to Barzillai, “Come across with me, and I will provide for you while you are with me in Jerusalem.”

2Sa 19:34

2Sa 19:34But Barzillai said to the king, “How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

2Sa 19:35

2Sa 19:35“I am today eighty years old. Can I discern between the good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any longer the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king?

2Sa 19:36

2Sa 19:36“Your servant will go a little way across the Jordan with the king. And why should the king repay me with such a reward?

2Sa 19:37

2Sa 19:37“Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, near the grave 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 seems good to you.”

2Sa 19:38

2Sa 19:38And the king answered, “Chimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him what seems good to you. Now whatever you request of me, I will do for you.”

2Sa 19:39

2Sa 19:39Then all the people went over the Jordan. And when the king had crossed over, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own place.

The Quarrel About the King

2Sa 19:40

2Sa 19:40Now the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham[fn] went on with him. And all the people of Judah escorted the king, and also half the people of Israel.

2Sa 19:41

2Sa 19:41Just then all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king, his household, and all David’s men with him across the Jordan?”

2Sa 19:42

2Sa 19:42So all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative of ours. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we ever eaten at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?”

2Sa 19:43

2Sa 19:43And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten shares in the king; therefore we also have more right to David than you. Why then do you despise us—were we not the first to advise bringing back our king?” Yet the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(19:40)

Masoretic Text reads Chimhan.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

2 Samuel Chapter 19 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

2 Samuel 19 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

NKJV Footnotes

2 Samuel Chapter 19 — Additional Translations:

Did You Know BLB Is User Supported?