2 Samuel 16
Open in the reader1When Beloved had gone a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant Shame-Dispeller Shame-Dispeller was there to meet him. He had a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine.
2“Why do you have these?” asked the king. Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”
3“Where is your master’s grandson?” asked the king. And Ziba answered, “Indeed, he is staying in Foundation-of-Peace, for he has said, ‘Today, the house of Strives-with-God will restore to me the kingdom of my grandfather.’”
4So the king said to Ziba, “All that belongs to Shame-Dispeller is now yours!” “I humbly bow before you,” said Ziba. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king!”
5As King Beloved approached Young-Men, a man from the family of the house of Asked-For was just coming out. His name was My-Hearing son of Grain, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses.
6He threw stones at Beloved and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on Beloved’s right and left.
7And as he yelled curses, My-Hearing said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed!
8He-Who-Is has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Asked-For, in whose place you have reigned, and He-Who-Is has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son Father-of-Peace. See, you have come to ruin because you are a man of bloodshed!”
9Then My-Father-Is-a-Gift son of Balm said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”
10But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Balm? If he curses me because He-Who-Is told him, ‘Curse Beloved,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”
11Then Beloved said to My-Father-Is-a-Gift and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for He-Who-Is has told him so.
12Perhaps He-Who-Is will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”
13So Beloved and his men proceeded along the road as My-Hearing went along the ridge of the hill opposite him. As My-Hearing went, he yelled curses, threw stones, and flung dust at Beloved.
14Finally, the king and all the people with him arrived, exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.
15Then Father-of-Peace and all the men of Strives-with-God came to Foundation-of-Peace, and My-Brother-Is-Folly was with him.
16And Beloved’s friend Hasty the Archite went to Father-of-Peace and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
17“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Father-of-Peace replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”
18“Not at all,” Hasty answered. “For the one chosen by He-Who-Is, by this people, and by all the men of Strives-with-God—his I will be, and with him I will remain.
19Furthermore, whom should I serve if not his son? As I served in your father’s presence, so also I will serve in yours.”
20Then Father-of-Peace said to My-Brother-Is-Folly, “Give me counsel. What should we do?”
21My-Brother-Is-Folly replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Strives-with-God hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
22So they pitched a tent for Father-of-Peace on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Strives-with-God.
23Now in those days the advice of My-Brother-Is-Folly was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both Beloved and Father-of-Peace had for My-Brother-Is-Folly’s advice.