14. David said to all of his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Get up. We must flee or there will be no escape from Absalom for us. Hurry up and leave, or he will soon reach us and bring disaster upon us, striking the city with the edge of the sword.”
15. The king’s servants said to the king, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.”
16. So the king left with his entire house after him, but he left behind ten women, concubines, to watch over the house.
17. So the king left with all of the people after him, and they came to a stop at the furthest house.
18. Now all his servants passed on beside him, all the Kerethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.
19. The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also going with us? Go back and dwell with the king, for you are a foreigner and, moreover, exiled from your own place.
20. You came only yesterday. Shall I cause you to go roaming around with us today? I am going where I go. Go back, and take back your brothers with you. Mercy and truth be with you.”
21. Ittai answered the king and said, “As the Lord lives and as lives my lord the king, only in the place where my lord the king is, whether for death or for life, there alone will your servant be.”
22. So David said to Ittai, “Go on, pass by.” So Ittai the Gittite passed by, along with all of his men and all of the children and elderly who were with him.
23. The whole land wept with a loud voice as all the people passed by. Now the king was crossing over the brook Kidron, and all of the people were crossing over on the road to the wilderness.
24. And also Zadok and all of the Levites with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar came up until all of the people had finished passing from the city.
25. The king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I have found favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me back and allow me to see both it and its resting place.