7And after forty years, Absalom said to the king, “If you please, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron. 8For I vowed this vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, ‘If the LORD shall bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.’” 9And the king said to him, “Go in peace”. So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “When as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall shout, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron’”. 11And two hundred men, who were invited, went out of Jerusalem with Absalom; and they went in their innocence, not knowing anything. 12And Absalom sent for Ahithophel, the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city of Giloh, while he was offering sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong; for the people continued to join with Absalom.

13And then a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom”. 14And David said to all his officials who were with him at Jerusalem, “Come, we must flee; for otherwise we shall not escape from Absalom. We must move speedily, or he will overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and attack the city with the sword”. 15And the king's officials said to the king, “Look, your servants are ready to do whatever the king chooses.” 16And the king set out, with all his household, except ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. 17And David, and all the people after him, went and stayed in a place that was far off. 18And all his men marched beside him; and all the Cherethites, the Pelethites (bodyguards), and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had accompanied him from Gath, all went on before the king. 19Then said the king to Ittai, the Gittite, “Why do you want to go with us? Return to your place, and stay with the king (Absalom); for you are a foreigner, and an exile. 20Since you came just yesterday, should I make you wander about us, when I do not know where I may go; return and take your people with you; mercy and truth be with you”. 21And Ittai answered, “As the LORD lives, and as my lord, the king, lives, surely in whatever place my lord, the king, shall be, whether in death or life, there also will I, your servant be”. 22And David said to Ittai, “March on.” And Ittai, the Gittite, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him, marched on. 23And all the country wept aloud, and all the people marched on; the king himself and all the people crossed over the brook Kidron, toward the wilderness.

24And Zadok was there, also, with all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God: and they set the ark of God down; and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had gotten out of the city. 25And the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city: if I shall find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me again, and show me both it, and its habitation; 26But if He says, ‘I have no delight in you’; behold, here am I, let Him do to me as seems good unto Him.” 27The king also said to Zadok, the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar. 28I will wait in the plain of the wilderness, until I get word from you to inform me”. 29Therefore, Zadok, and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem; and they waited there. 30And David climbed the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot; and all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. 31And someone told David, “Ahithophel has joined the conspirators with Absalom”. And David said, “O LORD, I pray You, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

32And when David had reached the top of the mount, where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai, the Archite, came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth upon his head: 33To whom David said, “If you come with me, you shall be a burden to me, 34But if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant up to this time, so will I now also be your servant’; then you may work with me to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. 35And have you not Zadok and Abiathar, the priests there with you? Therefore, it shall be, that whatever you shall hear out of the king's (Absalom’s) house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests. 36They have with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and you shall send to me everything that you can hear by them.” 37So Hushai, David's friend, went back to the city, and Absalom entered Jerusalem.