1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and throw him into a panic. All the people with him will flee, and I will strike down the king alone. 3 Then I will bring all the people back to you. The man you seek is as good as the return of everyone. All the people will be at peace.” 4 The proposal seemed right to Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

5 Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite as well, and let us hear what he has to say.” 6 Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has said. Should we follow his advice? If not, speak.”

7 Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel Ahithophel has given is not good this time.” 8 Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty warriors, and they are bitter in spirit, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and he will not spend the night with the people. 9 Even now he is hidden in one of the pits or some other place. When some of your men fall at the beginning, whoever hears of it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ 10 Then even a valiant man with the heart of a lion will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty warrior and that the men with him are valiant. 11 So my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as numerous as the sand by the sea, and that you yourself go into battle. 12 We will come upon him wherever he is found, and settle on him as the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor a single one of the men with him will be left. 13 If he withdraws into a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the ravine until not even a pebble is found there.”

14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s counsel.” For the LORD had ordained that Ahithophel’s good counsel be frustrated, so that the LORD might bring disaster on Absalom.

15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I advised. 16 Now send word quickly to David: ‘Do not spend tonight in the plains of the wilderness. Be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him may be swallowed up.’ ” 17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel. A servant girl would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city. 18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. The two hurried away and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. 19 The woman took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the well, then scattered crushed grain on it. Nothing was discovered. 20 Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have crossed the stream.” They searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

21 After they had gone, the two came up out of the well and went to tell King David. They said to David, “Get up and cross the water quickly, for this is what Ahithophel has advised against you.” 22 So David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By morning light, every one of them had crossed the Jordan; not one was missing. 23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and went home to his own city. He put his household in order, hanged himself and died, and was buried in his father’s tomb.

24 David came to Mahanaim, while Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. 25 Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite, who had gone in to Abigail daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26 Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought beds, bowls, earthenware vessels, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils and roasted grain, 29 along with honey, butter, sheep and cheese from cows’ milk. They brought these to David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry, weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”