But he said, “My son will not go down with you—for his brother is dead and he alone remains. And if harm should happen to him along the way you’re going, you’ll bring my grey hair down to Sheol in grief.”
Surely your lifeblood will I avenge. From every animal and from every person will I avenge it. From every person’s brother will I avenge that person’s life.
So today I am vulnerable, even though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me to handle. May Adonai reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.”
But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table—for they befriended me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
behold, I have done according to your words. I have given you a wise and discerning mind, so that there has been none like you before you, nor shall anyone like you arise after you.
‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you will be gathered to your grave in shalom. So your eyes will not see all the disaster I am bringing on this place.’” Then they brought back word to the king.
No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the youth will die at a hundred years, But one who misses the mark of a hundred must be accursed.
You are not to pollute the land in which you are. Blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for land polluted by bloodshed except by the blood of the one who sheds it.