19. And the sovereign said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you go, you also, with us? Turn back and remain with the sovereign, for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from your own place.
20. “You came yesterday, and should I today make you wander up and down with us, when I am going wherever I am going? Return, and take your brothers back. Kindness and truth be with you.”
21. And Ittai answered the sovereign and said, “As יהוה lives, and as my master the sovereign lives, in whatever place my master the sovereign is, whether in death or life, let your servant also be there.”
22. Therefore Dawiḏ said to Ittai, “Go, and pass over.” And Ittai the Gittite and all his men and all the little ones who were with him passed over.
23. And all the land was weeping with a loud voice, and all the people were passing over. And the sovereign himself was passing over the wadi Qiḏron, and all the people were passing over toward the way of the wilderness.
24. And see, Tsaḏoq also came, and all the Lĕwites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of Elohim. And they set down the ark of Elohim, and Eḇyathar went up until all the people completed passing over from the city.
25. And the sovereign said to Tsaḏoq, “Take the ark of Elohim back to the city. If I find favour in the eyes of יהוה, then He shall bring me back and show me both it and His dwelling.
26. “But if He says thus, ‘I have not delighted in you,’ here I am, let Him do to me as seems good in His eyes.”
27. And the sovereign said to Tsaḏoq the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Aḥima‛ats your son, and Yehonathan son of Eḇyathar.
28. “See, I am waiting in the desert plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”
29. And Tsaḏoq and Eḇyathar took the ark of Elohim back to Yerushalayim, and they remained there.
30. And Dawiḏ went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up. And he had his head covered and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went up.
31. And Dawiḏ was informed, saying, “Aḥithophel is among the conspirators with Aḇshalom.” And Dawiḏ said, “O יהוה, I pray You, make the counsel of Aḥithophel foolish!”
32. And it came to be that Dawiḏ came to the summit, where he bowed himself before Elohim, and saw Ḥushai the Arkite, coming to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.
33. And Dawiḏ said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you shall become a burden to me,
34. but if you return to the city, and say to Aḇshalom, ‘I am your servant, O sovereign – once servant of your father, but now I am your servant,’ then you shall nullify the counsel of Aḥithophel for me.
35. “And are not Tsaḏoq and Eḇyathar the priests with you there? And it shall be that every matter you hear from the sovereign’s house, you should report to Tsaḏoq and Eḇyathar the priests.
36. “See, there with them are their two sons, Aḥima‛ats, Tsaḏoq’s son, and Yehonathan, Eḇyathar’s son. And by them you shall send me every matter you hear.”
37. And Ḥushai, Dawiḏ’s friend, went into the city. And Aḇshalom came into Yerushalayim.