2 Samuel 17

1Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and let me arise and pursue David tonight.”

2I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and I will throw him into panic, so that all the people who are with him will flee; then I will strike down the king alone.

3and I will bring back all the people to you, as when all return, the man whom you seek will be gone; all the people will be at peace.

4The proposal seemed good in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.

5Then Absalom said, “Please call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he too has to say.”

6When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Ahithophel has spoken in this way. Should we do as he says? If not, you speak.”

7Then Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.”

8Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and bitter of soul, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is a man of war; he will not spend the night with the troops.”

9Look, right now he is hidden in one of the pits or in one of the other places. And when some of them fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’

10Even the valiant man whose heart is like a lion’s heart will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that the men with him are valiant men.

11But I advise that all Israel be surely gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as numerous as the sand that is by the sea, and that you yourself go into battle.

12Then we will come upon him in one of the places where he is found, and we will settle on him just as the dew falls on the ground; and not one will be left of him and of all the men who are with him—not even one.

13And if he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it to the wadi until not even a small stone is found there.

14Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to frustrate the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that Yahweh might bring disaster on Absalom.

15Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “This and that is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this and that is what I have advised.”

16Now send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but be sure to cross over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’

17Jonathan and Ahimaaz were standing at En-rogel, and a female servant would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city.

18But a young man saw them and told Absalom, so the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down there.

19Then the woman took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered crushed grain on it, and the matter was not known.

20Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They crossed over the brook of water.” They searched, but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

21After they had gone, they came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, “Get up and cross over the water quickly, for this is what Ahithophel has advised against you.”

22Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By morning light, not one was missing who had not crossed the Jordan.

23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been followed, he saddled the donkey, arose, and went to his house in his city. He gave orders to his household, then hanged himself and died; and he was buried in his father's tomb.

24Then David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

25And Absalom set Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who had gone in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.

26Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

27When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,

28beds, basins, and pottery vessels, and wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, and parched grain.

29and honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd they brought near for David and for the people who were with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”