The troops from Judah and Israel argued

41 Then all the soldiers from the other Israeli tribes came to the king and said, “◄Why is it that our relatives, the men from Judah, took you away from us and wanted to be the only ones to escort you and your family across the river, along with all your men?/It is not right that our relatives, the men from Judah, took you away from us and wanted to be the only ones to escort you and your family across the river, along with all your men.► [RHQ] Why did you not request us to do that?” [RHQ]

42 The soldiers from Judah replied, “We did it because the king is from Judah. So ◄why are you angry about that?/you should not be angry about that.► [RHQ] The king has never paid for our food, and he has never given us any gifts.”

43 The men of the other Israeli tribes replied, “There are ten tribes in Israel, and only one in Judah. So it is ten times more right for us to say that David is our king than it is for you to say that. So why are you despising us [RHQ]? We were certainly [RHQ] the first ones to talk about bringing David back to Jerusalem to be our king again.”

But the men of Judah spoke more harshly than the men from the other tribes of Israel did.