After four years, Absalom went before the king and said, “I want to go and pay my vow in Hebron which I vowed to the Lord when I lived at Geshur in Aram.” David said, “Go in peace.” But Absalom had secretly sent messengers to all the tribes, who said that when the trumpet sounds in Israel, Absalom is king of Israel. He also sent for David’s counselor Ahithophel while he was sacrificing there to the Lord, and the conspiracy was strong. But the two hundred men he had with him did not know anything.