13. Likewise say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone and of my flesh? God do so to me and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the place of Joab.
14. And he inclined the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou and all thy slaves.
15. So the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over the Jordan.
16. And Shimei, the son of Gera, son of Jemini, who was of Bahurim, hastened and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
17. And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him; likewise Ziba, the slave of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and his twenty slaves with him, who went over the Jordan before the king.
18. Then the ferry boat went over to carry over the king’s household and to do what he desired. Then Shimei, the son of Gera, fell down before the king, as he was passing the Jordan,
19. And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither retain the memory of the wickedness that thy slave did the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should guard it in his heart.
20. For I, thy slave, know that I have sinned; therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
21. But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?
22. Then David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? Shall anyone be put to death today in Israel? Do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?
23. And the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king swore unto him.
24. Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, also came down to meet the king and had neither washed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.
25. And after he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said unto him, Why didst thou not go with me, Mephibosheth?
26. And he answered, My lord, O king, my slave deceived me, for thy slave said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride upon it and go to the king because thy slave is lame.