17. with one thousand men from Benjamin, and with Ziba, the servant from the house of Saul. And with him were his fifteen sons and twenty servants. And going into the Jordan,
18. they crossed the fords before the king, so that they might lead across the house of the king, and might act in accord with his order. Then, Shimei, the son of Gera, prostrating himself before the king after he had now gone across the Jordan,
19. said to him: "May you not impute to me, my lord, the iniquity, nor call to mind the injuries, of your servant in the day that you, my lord the king, departed from Jerusalem. And may you not store it up in your heart, O king.
20. For as your servant, I acknowledge my sin. And for this reason, today, I arrive as the first from all the house of Joseph, and I descend to meet my lord the king."
21. Yet truly, Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, responding, said, "Should not Shimei, because of these words, be killed, since he cursed the Christ of the Lord?"
22. And David said: "What is it to me and to all of you, O sons of Zeruiah? Why are you acting toward me this day like Satan? Why should any man be put to death on this day in Israel? Or do you not know that today I have been made king over Israel?"
23. And the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." And he swore to him.
24. And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, descended to meet the king, with unwashed his feet and uncut beard. And he had not washed his garments from the day that the king had departed, until the day of his return in peace.