3. Aḇshalom would say to him, “Look, your matters are good and right, but you have nobody from the sovereign to hear you.”
4. And Aḇshalom would say, “Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any complaint or case would come to me, and I shall let right be done to him.”
5. And it came to be, whenever anyone came near him to bow down to him, that he would put out his hand and take him and kiss him.
6. And Aḇshalom did this to all Yisra’ĕl who came to the sovereign for right-ruling. And Aḇshalom stole the hearts of the men of Yisra’ĕl.
7. And it came to be at the end of four years that Aḇshalom said to the sovereign, “Please, let me go to Ḥeḇron and pay the vow which I vowed to יהוה.
8. “For your servant vowed a vow while I dwelt at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If יהוה indeed brings me back to Yerushalayim, then I shall serve יהוה.’ ”
9. And the sovereign said to him, “Go in peace.” And he rose up and went to Ḥeḇron.
10. But Aḇshalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Yisra’ĕl, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, then you shall say, ‘Aḇshalom is sovereign in Ḥeḇron!’ ”
11. And with Aḇshalom went two hundred men from Yerushalayim who were invited, and they went along unsuspectingly, and did not know the matter at all.
12. Aḇshalom also sent for Aḥithophel the Gilonite, counsellor of Dawiḏ, from his city, from Giloh, while he was bringing offerings. And it came to be that the conspiracy became strong, for the people with Aḇshalom kept increasing.
13. Then a messenger came to Dawiḏ, saying, “The hearts of the men of Yisra’ĕl are with Aḇshalom.”
14. And Dawiḏ said to all his servants who were with him at Yerushalayim, “Rise up, and let us flee, for none of us shall escape from Aḇshalom. Go in haste, lest he overtake us quickly and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.”