13. A messenger came to David and said, “The hearts of the men of Israel are following Absalom.”
14. David said to all of his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Get up. We must flee or there will be no escape from Absalom for us. Hurry up and leave, or he will soon reach us and bring disaster upon us, striking the city with the edge of the sword.”
15. The king’s servants said to the king, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.”
16. So the king left with his entire house after him, but he left behind ten women, concubines, to watch over the house.
17. So the king left with all of the people after him, and they came to a stop at the furthest house.
18. Now all his servants passed on beside him, all the Kerethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.
19. The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also going with us? Go back and dwell with the king, for you are a foreigner and, moreover, exiled from your own place.