SECOND SAMUEL

 

2 Samuel Chapter 17

1 ¶ Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out in pursuit of David tonight:

2 And I will come upon him while he is exhausted and weak, and will cause him panic: and all the people who are with him will flee; and I will strike down the king alone:

3 And I will bring all the people back to you: and when everyone returns except the man you seek: everyone will be at peace.

4 And Absalom liked the plan, as did all the elders of Israel.

5 But Absalom said, Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.

6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, Ahithophel has offered this proposal: shall we do what he said? if not; what do you advise.

7 And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.

8 For, Hushai continued, you know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field: and your father is a man of war, who will not spend the night with the people.

9 He is probably already hiding in some cave, or in some other place: and when some of our men fall in the first attack, whoever hears it will say, There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.

10 And even the brave man, whose heart is like 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 Therefore I advise that you gather around you all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, as numerous as the sand that is by the sea; and that you personally lead the battle.

12 Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will come down upon him unnoticed like dew falling to the ground: and of him and all the men who are with him not one will be left.

13 Moreover, if he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the river, until there is not one small stone left there.

14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The plan of Hushai the Archite is better than the plan of Ahithophel. For the LORD had decreed the overthrow of Ahithophel’s good counsel, so that the LORD might bring about Absalom’s ruin.

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

16 Therefore send word to David at once, saying, Do not spend the night at the desert ford, but cross over at once; or the king and all the people with him will be destroyed.

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by Enrogel; for they could not be seen coming into the city: but a maidservant went and told them; and they went and told king David.

18 Nevertheless a boy saw them, and told Absalom: but they both left quickly, and went to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard; and they went down into it.

19 And the woman spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn on it; and nothing was known of it.

20 And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They went on toward the water brook. And when they looked and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21 And after they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said to David, Arise, and cross over the water at once: for this is what Ahithophel advised against you.

22 ¶ Then David, and all the people who were with him, arose, and they crossed over the Jordan: by dawn there was not one of them who had not crossed over the Jordan.

23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and went home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hung himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

24 Now David reached Mahanaim, by the time Absalom, and all the men of Israel who were with him, crossed over the Jordan.

25 And Absalom made Amasa the commander of his army in the place of Joab. Amasa was the son of an Israelite named Ithra, who married Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Joab’s mother Zeruiah.

26 So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

27 And when David entered Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,

28 Brought beds, and basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, and parched pulse,

29 Plus honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty, in the desert.