2 Samuel 1:2Plain English VersionThen, 2 days later, a young man arrived at David’s camp. He came from the place where Saul’s mob had that big fight. Along the road he tore his clothes and put dirt on his head, to show that he had bad news. Then he came to David, got down on his knees with his face close to the ground, to show respect to him. See the chapter |
Joseph’s brother Reuben was somewhere else, so he didn’t see his brothers sell Joseph to that Midian mob. He thought that Joseph was still in that hole in the ground. And Reuben wanted to save Joseph, so he went to that hole to get him out. But he saw that Joseph wasn’t in that hole any more, and he got really upset. He was so upset that he tore his clothes.
So Jacob was really sad, because he thought that Joseph was dead. He was so sad that he tore his clothes. Then he put on some clothes made out of a rough cloth, called sack-cloth, and he cried. You see, in that culture, people sometimes tore their clothes and wore sack-cloth to show that they were sad. Jacob cried like that for lots of days.
David and his mob, they went to the top of the hill called Olive Trees Hill. People used to show respect to God at that place. A man called Hushai was there to join up with David’s mob. He was from the Arek mob, and he worked for David. You see, he heard about Absalom’s plan to attack Jerusalem, and he was sad for his boss. He even tore his clothes and put dirt on his head, to show he was sad.