The king said unto Zadok the priest, "Return into the city in peace.
See, I will tarry at the fords of the wilderness, until there come word
from you." Zadok therefore carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem:
and they abode there.
And David 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 that were with him covered every man his head, and they went up,
weeping as they went up.
And one told David, saying, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with
Absalom."
And David said, "O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel
into foolishness."
And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the ascent,
behold, Hushai came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his
head: and David said unto him, "If thou passest on with me, then thou
shalt be a burden unto me: but if thou return to the city, and say unto
Absalom, 'I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father's
servant in time past, so will I now be thy servant': then shalt thou
defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. And hast thou not there with
thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests? therefore it shall be, that what
thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it
to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. Behold, they have there with them
their two sons; and by them ye shall send unto me everything that ye
shall hear."
So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city.
=Sec.77. The Folly and Fate of Absalom= (II Sam. 16:15, 16, 20; 17:1-16,
22, 24; 18:1-17, 21, 24, 25, 31-33)