7. Now get up! Go out and encourage your followers! I swear to the Lord that if you don’t go out there, not one man will stick with you tonight—and that will be more trouble for you than all the trouble that you’ve faced from your youth until now."
8. So the king went and sat down in the city gate. All the troops were told that the king was sitting in the gate, so they came before the king.Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.
9. Everyone was arguing throughout Israel’s tribes, saying, "The king delivered us from our enemies’ power, and he rescued us from the Philistines’ power, but now he has fled from the land and from controlling his own kingdom.
10. And Absalom, the one we anointed over us, is dead in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?"
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.
25. When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, "Mephibosheth, why didn’t you go with me?"
26. "My master and king," Mephibosheth answered, "my servant abandoned me! Because your servant is lame, I asked my servant, ‘Saddle a donkey for me so I can ride and go to the king.’