1And word was given to Joab that the king was weeping and sorrowing for Absalom.
2And the salvation of that day was changed to sorrow for all the people: for it was said to the people, The king is in bitter grief for his son.
3And the people made their way back to the town quietly and secretly, as those who are shamed go secretly when they go in flight from the war.
4But the king, covering his face, gave a great cry, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!
5And Joab came into the house to the king and said, Today you have put to shame the faces of all your servants who even now have kept you and your sons and your daughters and your wives and all your women safe from death;
6For your haters, it seems, are dear to you, and your friends are hated. For you have made it clear that captains and servants are nothing to you: and now I see that if Absalom was living and we had all been dead today, it would have been right in your eyes.
7So get up now, and go out and say some kind words to your servants; for, by the Lord, I give you my oath, that if you do not go out, not one of them will keep with you tonight; and that will be worse for you than all the evil which has overtaken you from your earliest years.
