6. By behaving in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king for judgment, Absalom was stealing the heart of Israel.
7. After a period of four years, Absalom said to the king: “Please let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord.
8. For while living in Geshur in Aram, your servant made this vow: ‘If the Lord ever brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship him in Hebron.’”
9. The king said to him, “Go in peace,” and he went off to Hebron.
10. Then Absalom sent agents throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “When you hear the sound of the horn, say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’”
11. Two hundred men had accompanied Absalom from Jerusalem. They had been invited and went in all innocence, knowing nothing.
12. Absalom also sent to Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, an invitation to come from his town, Giloh, for the sacrifices he was about to offer. So the conspiracy gained strength, and the people with Absalom increased in numbers.
13. An informant came to David with the report, “The Israelites have given their hearts to Absalom, and they are following him.”
14. At this, David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem: “Get up, let us flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave at once, or he will quickly overtake us, and then bring disaster upon us, and put the city to the sword.”
15. The king’s servants answered him, “Whatever our lord the king chooses to do, we are your servants.”
16. Then the king set out, accompanied by his entire household, except for ten concubines whom he left behind to care for the palace.
17. As the king left the city, with all his officers accompanying him, they halted opposite the ascent of the Mount of Olives, at a distance,
18. while the whole army marched past him. As all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and the six hundred Gittites who had entered his service from that city, were passing in review before the king,
19. the king said to Ittai the Gittite: “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and you, too, are an exile from your own country.
20. You came only yesterday, and today shall I have you wander off with us wherever I have to go? Return and take your brothers with you, and may the Lord show you kindness and fidelity.”
21. But Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, your servant shall be wherever my lord the king is, whether for death or for life.”