| 16:1 | And when David had gone a little way past the top of the slope, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, came to him, with two asses on which were two hundred cakes of bread and a hundred stems of dry grapes and a hundred summer fruits and a skin of wine. |
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| 16:7 | And Shimei said, with curses, Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, you good-for-nothing: |
| 16:8 | The Lord has sent punishment on you for all the blood of the family of Saul, whose kingdom you have taken; and the Lord has given the kingdom to Absalom, your son: now you yourself are taken in your evil, because you are a man of blood. |
| 16:9 | Then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said to the king, Is this dead dog to go on cursing my lord the king? let me go over and take off his head. |
| 16:10 | And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Let him go on cursing, for the Lord has said, Put a curse on David, and who then may say, Why have you done so? |
| 16:11 | And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, You see how my son, the offspring of my body, has made designs against my life: how much more then may this Benjamite do so? Let him be, and let him go on cursing; for the Lord has given him orders. |
| 16:12 | It may be that the Lord will take note of my wrongs, and give me back good in answer to his cursing of me today. |
| 16:13 | So David and his men went on their way: and Shimei went by the hillside parallel with them, cursing and sending stones and dust at him. |
| 16:14 | And the king and his people came tired to Jordan, and took their rest there. |
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| 16:15 | And Absalom and the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. |
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| 16:17 | And Absalom said, Is this your love for your friend? why did you not go with your friend? |
| 16:18 | And Hushai said to Absalom, Not so; I am for that man whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have taken as king, and I will take my place with him. |
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| 16:20 | Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your opinion now, what are we to do? |
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| 16:23 | In those days the opinions of Ahithophel were valued as highly as if through him a man might get direction from God; so were they valued by David as much as by Absalom. |
2 Samuel 16 - Bible in Basic English
