1. And it was reported to Yo’aḇ, “See, the sovereign is weeping and mourning for Aḇshalom.”
2. So the deliverance that day was turned into mourning for all the people. For the people heard on that day, saying, “The sovereign has been grieved for his son.”
3. And the people stole back into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
4. And the sovereign covered his face, and the sovereign cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Aḇshalom! O Aḇshalom, my son, my son!”
5. And Yo’aḇ came into the house to the sovereign, and said, “Today you have put to shame all your servants who today have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and daughters, and the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines,
6. by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you. For you have made it clear today that you have neither commanders nor servants, for today I know that if Aḇshalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would be right in your eyes.
7. “And now, arise, go out and speak to the heart of your servants. For I swear by יהוה, if you do not go out, not one passes the night with you. And that is worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”