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1 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out for myself twelve thousand men, and I will arise and follow after David this night: 2 and I will come upon him when he is weary and weakhanded, and I will strike him with terror; and all the people with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only of all. 3 And I will bring back all the people to thee, as a bride returns to her husband: only thou seekest the life of one man, and all the people shall have peace. 4 And the saying was right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.
5 And Absalom said, Call now also Hushai the Archite, and let us hear what is in his mouth, even in his also. 6 And Hushai went in to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him, saying, After this manner spoke Ahithophel: shall we do according to his word? but if not, do thou speak.
7 And Hushai said to Absalom, This counsel which Ahithophel has counseled this one time is not good. 8 And Hushai said, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are very mighty, and bitter in their spirit, as a bereaved bear in the field, and as a wild boar in the plain: and thy father is a man of war, and will not give the people rest. 9 For, behold, he is now hidden in one of the hills or in some other place: and it shall come to pass when he falls upon them at the beginning, that someone will certainly hear, and say, There has been a slaughter among the people that follow after Absalom. 10 Then even he that is strong, whose heart is as the heart of a lion—it shall utterly melt: for all Israel knows that thy father is mighty, and they that are with him are mighty men. 11 For thus I have surely given counsel, that all Israel be generally gathered to thee from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is upon the seashore for multitude: and that thy presence go in the midst of them. 12 And we will come upon him in one of the places where we shall find him, and we will encamp against him, as the dew falls upon the earth; and we will not leave of him and of his men so much as one. 13 And if he shall have taken refuge with his army in a city, then shall all Israel take ropes to that city, and we will draw it even into the river, that there may not be left there even a stone.
14 And Absalom, and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord ordained to disconcert the good counsel of Ahithophel, that the Lord might bring all evil upon Absalom.
15 And Hushai the Archite said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled. 16 And now send quickly and report to David, saying, Lodge not this night in Araboth of the wilderness: even go and make haste, lest one swallow up the king, and all the people with him.
17 And Jonathan and Ahimaaz stood by the well of Rogel, and a maidservant went and reported to them, and they go and tell King David; for they might not be seen to enter into the city. 18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom: and the two went quickly, and entered into the house of a man in Bahurim; and he had a well in his court, and they went down into it. 19 And a woman took a covering, and spread it over the mouth of the well, and spread out ground corn upon it to dry, and the thing was not known. 20 And the servants of Absalom came to the woman into the house, and said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? and the woman said to them, They are gone a little way beyond the water. And they sought and found them not, and returned to Jerusalem. 21 And it came to pass after they were gone, that they came up out of the pit, and went on their way; and reported to King David, and said to David, Arise ye and go quickly over the water, for thus has Ahithophel counseled concerning you.
22 And David rose up and all the people with him, and they passed over Jordan till the morning light; there was not one missing who did not pass over Jordan.
23 And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, and he saddled his ass, and rose and departed to his house into his city; and he gave orders to his household, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.
24 And David passed over to Mahanaim: and Absalom crossed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 And Absalom appointed Amasa in the room of Joab over the host. And Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Jether of Jezreel: he went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab. 26 And all Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
27 And it came to pass when David came to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, 28 brought ten embroidered beds (with double coverings), and ten caldrons, and earthenware, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and meal, and beans, and pulse, 29 and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheeses of kine: and they brought them to David and to his people with him to eat; for one said, The people is faint and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.