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16 When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him,[a] “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” 18 Hushai replied to Absalom, “No, I will be loyal to the one whom the Lord, these people, and all the men of Israel have chosen.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 16:16 tn Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  2. 2 Samuel 16:18 tn Heb “No for with the one whom the Lord has chosen, and this people, and all the men of Israel, I will be and with him I will stay.” The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוֹ (lo, “[I will be] to him”) rather than the MT לֹא (loʾ, “[I will] not be”), which makes very little sense here.

16 Then Hushai(A) the Arkite, David’s confidant, went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

17 Absalom said to Hushai, “So this is the love you show your friend? If he’s your friend, why didn’t you go with him?”(B)

18 Hushai said to Absalom, “No, the one chosen by the Lord, by these people, and by all the men of Israel—his I will be, and I will remain with him.

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