23 The whole countryside cried loudly as all the troops marched past. The king crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the troops passed by on the Olive road into the wilderness.
24 Zadok was there too, along with all the Levites carrying the chest containing God’s covenant. They set God’s chest down, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the troops had finished marching out of the city.
25 Then the king said to Zadok, "Carry God’s chest back into the city. If the Lord thinks well of me, then he will bring me back and let me see it and its home again.
26 But if God says, ‘I’m not pleased with you,’ then I am ready. Let him do to me whatever pleases him."
27 "Do you understand?" the king said to the priest Zadok. "Go back to the city in safety—you and Abiathar with your two sons, your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan.
28 I will be waiting in the desert plains until you send word telling me what to do."
29 So Zadok and Abiathar took God’s chest back to Jerusalem and stayed there.