3. The people came into the city quietly as if they were the ones who had been defeated in battle.
4. The king had covered his face and was crying loudly, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
5. Joab came into the king’s palace and said to the king, “You are humiliating every one of your officers! Look, they saved your life today and the lives of your sons and daughters and your wives and slave women.
6. It seems that you love those who hate you, and you hate those who love you! Today you have made it clear to your officers and men that they mean nothing to you. It appears as if you would have been perfectly happy if Absalom had lived and the rest of us had been killed today!
7. Now get up and go encourage your officers. I swear by the Lord, if you don’t go out and do that right now, not one man will be with you tonight. And that will be worse for you than all the trouble you have had since you were a child.”
8. So the king went to the city gate. The news spread that the king was at the gate, so all the people came to see him, except for the Israelites who had run away to their homes.
9. The tribes of Israel began discussing what to do next. They said, “King David saved us from the Philistines and our other enemies. David left the country because he was running away from Absalom.