1 Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom,
“Let me now choose twelve thousand men,
and I will arise and pursue after David
tonight.
2 I will come on him while he is weary
and exhausted, and will make him afraid.
All the people who are with him will flee. I
will strike the king only,
3 and I will bring back all the people to
you. The man whom you seek is as if all
returned. All the people shall be in peace.”
4 The saying pleased Absalom well, and
all the elders of Israel.
5 Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushai
the Archite also, and let’s hear likewise
what he says.”
6 When Hushai had come to Absalom,
Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel
has spoken like this. Shall we do what he
says? If not, speak up.”
7 Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel
that Ahithophel has given this time is not
good.”
8 Hushai said moreover, “You know your
father and his men, that they are mighty
men, and they are fierce in their minds,
like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field.
Your father is a man of war, and will not
lodge with the people.
9 Behold, he is now hidden in some pit,
or in some other place. It will happen,
when some of them have fallen at the first,
that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a
slaughter amongst the people who follow
Absalom!’ 10 Even he who is valiant, whose heart
is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt;
for all Israel knows that your father is a
mighty man, and those who are with him
are valiant men.
11 But I counsel that all Israel be gathered
together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba,
as the sand that is by the sea for
multitude; and that you go to battle in your
own person.
12 So we will come on him in some place
where he will be found, and we will light
on him as the dew falls on the ground, then
we will not leave so much as one of him
and of all the men who are with him.
13 Moreover, if he has gone into a city,
then all Israel will bring ropes to that city,
and we will draw it into the river, until
there isn’t one small stone found there.”
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said,
“The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better
than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For
the LORD had ordained to defeat the good
counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that
the LORD might bring evil on Absalom.
15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar
the priests, “Ahithophel counselled
Absalom and the elders of Israel that way;
and I have counselled this way.
16 Now therefore send quickly, and tell
David, saying, ‘Don’t lodge tonight at the
fords of the wilderness, but by all means
pass over, lest the king be swallowed up,
and all the people who are with him.’ ”
17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were
staying by En Rogel; and a female servant
used to go and report to them, and they
went and told King David; for they couldn’t
risk being seen coming into the city.
18 But a boy saw them, and told Absalom.
Then they both went away quickly and
came to the house of a man in Bahurim,
who had a well in his court; and they went
down there.
19 The woman took and spread the covering
over the well’s mouth, and spread
out crushed grain on it; and nothing was
known.
20 Absalom’s servants came to the
woman to the house; and they said,
“Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
The woman said to them, “They have
gone over the brook of water.”
When they had sought and could not
find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
21 After they had departed, they came
up out of the well and went and told King
David; and they said to David, “Arise and
pass quickly over the water; for thus has
Ahithophel counselled against you.”
22 Then David arose, and all the people
who were with him, and they passed over
the Jordan. By the morning light there
lacked not one of them who had not gone
over the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel
was not followed, he saddled his donkey,
arose, and went home to his city, set his
house in order, and hanged himself; and
he died, and was buried in the tomb of his
father.
24 Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom
passed over the Jordan, he and all the
men of Israel with him.
25 Absalom set Amasa over the army instead
of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of
a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite,
who went in to Abigail the daughter of
Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.
26 Israel and Absalom encamped in the
land of Gilead.
27 When David had come to Mahanaim,
Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the
children of Ammon, and Machir the son
of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the
Gileadite of Rogelim,
28 brought beds, basins, earthen vessels,
wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans,
lentils, roasted grain,
29 honey, butter, sheep, and cheese of the
herd, for David and for the people who
were with him to eat; for they said, “The
people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in
the wilderness.”
