1 Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. 2  “A2 Sam 16:14I will come upon him while he is weary and 1Lit slack of handsexhausted and terrify him, so that all the people who are with him will flee. Then B1 Kin 22:31I will strike down the king alone, 3 and I will bring back all the people to you. 1Lit Like the return of the whole is the man whom you seekThe return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at AJer 6:14peace.” 4 So the 1Lit word was pleasing in the sight ofplan pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

5 Then Absalom said, “Now call A2 Sam 15:32-34Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what 1Lit is in his mouth—even hehe has to say.” 6 When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to 1Lit him, sayinghim, “Ahithophel has spoken 2Lit according to this wordthus. Shall we 3Lit do his wordcarry out his plan? If not, you speak.” 7 So Hushai said to Absalom, “A2 Sam 16:21This time the advice that Ahithophel has 1Lit advisedgiven is not good.” 8 Moreover, Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are 1Lit bitter of soulfierce, AHos 13:8like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is an 2Lit man of warexpert in warfare, and will not spend the night with the people. 9  “Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of the 1Lit pitscaves or in another place; and it will be 2Lit according to a falling among themwhen he falls on them at the first attack, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ 10  “And even the one who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, AJosh 2:9-11will completely 1Lit meltlose heart; 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 surely gathered to you, A1 Sam 3:20from Dan even to Beersheba, BGen 22:17; 1 Sam 13:5as the sand that is by the sea in abundance, and that 1Lit your face goyou personally go into battle. 12  “So we shall come to him in one of the places where he can be found, and we will 1Lit settle downfall on him APs 110:3; Mic 5:7as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be left. 13  “If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will AMic 1:6drag it into the 1Or wadivalley until not even a small stone is found there.” 14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For A2 Sam 15:31, 34; Ps 9:15, 16the Loʀᴅ had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Loʀᴅ might bring calamity on Absalom.

15 Then A2 Sam 15:35, 36Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “1Lit Thus and thusThis is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and 1Lit Thus and thusthis is what I have counseled. 16  “Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘A2 Sam 15:28Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over, or else the king and all the people who are with him will be 1Lit swallowed updestroyed.’ ” 17 A2 Sam 15:27, 36Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at BJosh 15:7; 18:16En-rogel, and a maidservant 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 lad did see them and told Absalom; so the two of them departed quickly and came to the house of a man A2 Sam 3:16; 16:5in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down 1Lit thereinto it. 19 And AJosh 2:4-6the woman 1Lit took and spread the coveringtook a covering and spread it over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, so that nothing was known. 20 Then Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And ALev 19:11; Josh 2:3-5; 1 Sam 19:12-17the woman said to them, “They have crossed the brook of water.” And when they searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21 It came about after they had departed that they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David, “A2 Sam 17:15, 16Arise and cross over the water quickly for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you.” 22 Then David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed the Jordan; and by 1Lit the light of the morningdawn not even one remained who had not crossed the Jordan.

23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not 1Lit donefollowed, he 2Lit boundsaddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to A2 Sam 15:12his city, and 3Lit gave charge toB2 Kin 20:1set his house in order, and CMatt 27:5strangled himself; thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father.

24 Then David came to AGen 32:2, 10; 2 Sam 2:8Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 Absalom set A2 Sam 19:13; 20:9-12; 1 Kin 2:5, 32Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was 1In 1 Chr 2:17, Jether the IshmaeliteIthra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of B1 Chr 2:16Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26 And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

27 Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi A1 Sam 11:1; 2 Sam 10:1, 2the son of Nahash from B2 Sam 12:26, 29Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, C2 Sam 9:4Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and D2 Sam 19:31-39; 1 Kin 2:7Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 28 brought AProv 11:25; Matt 5:7beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched seeds, 29 honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him, A2 Sam 16:2, 14; Prov 21:26; Eccl 11:1; Rom 12:13to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”