 1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, Please let me choose out 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed and I will make him tremble and all the people with him will flee and I will strike the king by himself. 3 I will bring back all the people to you, when all return, except the man whom you are seeking. All the people will be in peace. 4 The saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel. 5 Absalom said, Please call Hushai the Archite also and let us also hear what is in his mouth. 6 Hushai came in to Absalom and Absalom spoke to him saying, Ahithophel has spoken in this way. Shall we do his word? If not, you speak. 7 Hushai said to Absalom, The advice that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time. 8 For, Hushai said, You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are bitter of soul, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is a man of war, and will not stay the night with the people. 9 Behold, he is hid now in some pit or in some other place. And it will come to pass when some of them are overthrown, whoever hears it will say, There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. 10 Also he who is valiant, 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 mighty men. 11 Therefore I advise that all Israel be generally gathered to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude. And you yourself go into battle. 12 We will come to him in some place where he is found and we will light upon him like the dew falls on the ground. Of all the men with him, not even one will be left. 13 If he has gotten into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river until there is not 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 appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil on Absalom. 15 Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, After this and that, Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel. 16 Now send quickly and tell David saying, Do not stay in the plains of the wilderness tonight, but speedily pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people with him. 17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel, for there they might not be seen to come into the city. A slave girl told them and they told King David. 18 But a lad saw them and told Absalom. But both of them went away quickly, and came to a man's house in Bahurim, who had a well in his court, into which they went down. 19 The woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground grain on it, and the thing was not known. 20 When Absalom's servants came to the woman, to the house, they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And when they had searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. 21 After they had departed, they came up out of the well, and told King David. They said to David, Arise and pass quickly over the waters, for this is what Ahithophel has advised against you. 22 Then David and all the people with him arose. They passed over Jordan. By the morning light there was not one of them that had not gone over Jordan. 23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled the donkey and went home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order. Then he hanged himself and died and was buried in the tomb of his father. 24 David came to Mahanaim and Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 Absalom made Amasa captain of the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, an Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother. 26 Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. 27 When David came 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 and basins and earthen vessels, and wheat and barley and flour and roasted grain, and beans and lentils and other roasted food, 29 and honey and butter and sheep and cheese from cows, for David and for the people with him to eat. For they said, The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.
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