16. Then the king set out, accompanied by his entire household, except for ten concubines whom he left behind to care for the palace.
17. As the king left the city, with all his officers accompanying him, they halted opposite the ascent of the Mount of Olives, at a distance,
18. while the whole army marched past him. As all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and the six hundred Gittites who had entered his service from that city, were passing in review before the king,
19. the king said to Ittai the Gittite: “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and you, too, are an exile from your own country.
20. You came only yesterday, and today shall I have you wander off with us wherever I have to go? Return and take your brothers with you, and may the Lord show you kindness and fidelity.”
21. But Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, your servant shall be wherever my lord the king is, whether for death or for life.”