11. When the things that all the Israelites were saying reached the king, David sent a message to the priests Zadok and Abiathar: "Say the following to the elders of Judah: ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace?
12. You are my relatives! You are my flesh and bones! Why should you be the last to bring the king back?’
13. And tell Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and bones too? May God deal harshly with me and worse still if you don’t become commander of my army from now on instead of Joab!’"
14. So he won over the hearts of everyone in Judah as though they were one person, and they sent word to the king: "Come back—you and all your servants."
15. So the king came back and arrived at the Jordan River. Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.
16. Gera’s son Shimei, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the people of Judah to meet King David.
17. A thousand men from Benjamin were with him. Ziba too, the servant of Saul’s house, along with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, rushed to the Jordan ahead of the king
18. to do the work of ferrying over the king’s household and to do whatever pleased him.Gera’s son Shimei fell down before the king when he crossed the Jordan.
19. He said to the king, "May my master not hold me guilty or remember your servant’s wrongdoing that day my master the king left Jerusalem. Please forget about it, Your Majesty,
20. because your servant knows that I have sinned. But look, I am the first person from the entire family of Joseph to come down today and meet my master the king."
21. Zeruiah’s son Abishai responded, "Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for that—for cursing the Lord’s anointed?"
22. But David said, "My problems aren’t yours, you sons of Zeruiah. Why are you becoming my enemy today? Should anyone in Israel be put to death today? Don’t I know that today I am again king over Israel?"
23. Then the king told Shimei, "You will not die." And the king swore this to him.
24. Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also came down to meet the king. He hadn’t taken care of his feet, trimmed his beard, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely.