16. So the king went out and all his household with him. But the king left ten concubines to keep the house.
17. The king went out and all the people with him, and they stopped at the last house.
18. Now all his servants passed on beside him, all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had come with him from Gath, passed on before the king.
19. Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why will you also go with us? Return and remain with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile; return to your own place.
20. You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander with us, while I go where I will? Return and take back your brothers; mercy and truth be with you."
21. But Ittai answered the king and said, "As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be."
22. Therefore David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." So Ittai the Gittite passed over with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.
23. While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people passed over. The king also passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness.
24. Now behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar came up until all the people had finished passing from the city.
25. The king said to Zadok, "Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then He will bring me back again and show me both it and His habitation.
26. But if He should say thus, 'I have no delight in you,' behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him."
27. The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace and your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.
28. See, I am going to wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me."