2 Samuel 17

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men, and let me arise and pursue after David tonight.

And I will come upon him, and he {will be} weary and weak of hands, and I will make him tremble, and all of the people who {are} with him will flee. And I will strike the king alone.

And I will make all of the people return to you. Like the returning of all {is} the man whom you are seeking. All of the people will be {at} peace.”

And the word was right in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all of the elders of Israel. \*

But Absalom said, “Please also call to Hushai the Archite, and let us hear what {is} in his mouth, even he.”

And Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him, saying, “According to this word, Ahithophel has spoken. Shall we do his word? If not, you speak.” \*

And Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has counseled on this occasion is not good.” \*

And Hushai said, “You, you know your father and his men, that they {are} warriors and they {are} bitter of soul, like a bear bereaved in the field. And your father {is} a man of war, so he will not lodge with the people.

Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of the pits or in one of the places. And it will be, when {some} among them fall in the beginning, the hearer will hear and say, ‘A slaughter has happened among the people who {are} behind Absalom.’

And even he, a son of valor whose heart {is} like the heart of a lion, melting, he will melt, because all of Israel knows that your father {is} a warrior and {they} who {are} with him {are} sons of valor. \*

Therefore I counsel, being gathered, all of Israel shall be gathered to you, from Dan and to Beersheba, like the sand that {is} by the sea for multitude. And your face shall be going into the battle.

And we will come upon him in one of the places where he may be found there, and we {will be} upon him just as the dew falls upon the ground. And not even one will be left of him or of any of the men who {are} with him. \*

And if he gathers himself into a city, then all of Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it to the wadi until that not even a pebble will be found there.” \*

And Absalom and all of the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite {is} better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For God had appointed to break up the good counsel of Ahithophel for the sake of God bringing harm to Absalom. \*

Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests, “Like this and like this Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, but like this and like this I, I have counseled.

And now, send quickly and declare to David, saying, ‘Do not lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but also crossing over, cross over, lest the king be swallowed and all of the people who {are} with him.’” \*

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel, and a maidservant would go and declare to them, and they, they would go and declare to King David, for they were not able to be seen entering the city.

But a young man saw them, and he declared to Absalom. So the two of them went {in} haste, and they came to the house of a man in Bahurim, and to him {was} a well in his courtyard, and they went down there. \*

And the woman took and stretched out a covering over the face of the well, and she spread grain over it, so the matter was not known. \*

And the servants of Absalom came to the woman {at} the house, and they said, “Where {are} Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” \* And the woman said to them, “They crossed over the brook of waters.” And they sought, but they did not find, so they returned {to} Jerusalem. \*

And it happened after they went that they came up from the well, and they went and declared to King David. And they said to David, “Arise and cross over the waters in haste, for according to this Ahithophel has counseled against you.”

So David and all of the people who {were} with him arose and crossed the Jordan until the light of dawn, until not one was missing who had not crossed the Jordan. \*

And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not done, and he saddled his donkey, and he arose and went to his house, to his city, and he commanded about his house, and he hanged himself, and he died. And he was buried in the grave of his father. \*

And David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all of the men of Israel with him.

And Absalom appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa {was} the son of a man and his name {was} Ithra the Israelite, who had gone in to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab.

And Israel and Absalom camped {in} the land of Gilead. \*

And it happened, when David came to Mahanaim, that Shobi, the son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,

beds and basins and vessels of the potter and wheat and barley and flour and roasted grain and beans and lentils and roasted beans

and honey and curds and sheep and cheese of cattle, they brought to David and to the people who {were} with him to eat, for they said, “The people {will be} hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.” \*