2 Samuel 17

1 Then Ahithophel said to Absalom: “I will choose for myself twelve thousand men, and rising up, I will pursue David this night.

Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me take out twelve thousand men and this very night I will go after David:

2 And rushing against him, for he is weary and has weakened hands, I will strike him. And when all the people who are with him will have fled, I will strike down the king in isolation.

And I will come up with him when he is tired and feeble, and make him full of fear: and all the people with him will go in flight; and I will make an attack on the king only:

3 And I will lead back the entire people, returning in the manner of one man. For you are seeking only one man. And all the people shall be in peace.”

And I will make all the people come back to you as a bride comes back to her husband: it is the life of only one man you are going after; so all the people will be at peace.

4 And this word pleased Absalom and all those greater by birth of Israel.

And the saying was pleasing to Absalom and to the responsible men of Israel.

5 But Absalom said, “Summon Hushai the Archite, and let us hear what he also may say.”

Then Absalom said, Now send for Hushai the Archite, and let us give ear to what he has to say.

6 And when Hushai had gone to Absalom, Absalom said to him: “Ahithophel has spoken a word in this manner. Should we do it or not? What counsel do you give?”

And when Hushai came, Absalom said to him, This is what Ahithophel has said: are we to do as he says? if not, what is your suggestion?

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

And Hushai said to Absalom, Ahithophel's idea is not a good one at this time.

8 And again Hushai declared, “You know your father, and the men who are with him, to be very strong and bitter in soul, comparable to a bear raging in the forest when her young have been taken away. Moreover, your father is a man of war, and so he will not live among the people.

Hushai said further, You have knowledge of your father and his men, that they are men of war, and that their feelings are bitter, like those of a bear in the field whose young ones have been taken from her: and your father is a man of war, and will not take his night's rest with the people;

9 Perhaps now he hides in pits, or in another place, wherever he wills. And if by chance, in the beginning, anyone may fall, whoever hears about it, no matter what he has heard, will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who were following Absalom.’

But he will certainly have taken cover now in some hole or secret place; and if some of our people, at the first attack, are overcome, then any hearing of it will say, There is destruction among the people who are on Absalom's side.

10 And even the very strong, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will be weakened out of fear. For all the people of Israel know your father to be a valiant man, and that all who are with him are robust.

Then even the strongest, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will become like water; for all Israel is conscious that your father is a man of war, and those who are with him are strong and without fear.

11 But this seems to me to be the right counsel: Let all of Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand of the sea which is innumerable. And you will be in their midst.

But my suggestion is that all Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, comes together to you, a great army like the sands of the sea in number; and that you yourself go out among them.

12 And we shall rush against him in whatever place he will have been found. And we shall cover him, as the dew usually falls upon the ground. And we shall not leave behind even one of the men who are with him.

Then we will come on him in some place, wherever he may be, falling on him as the dew comes on the earth: and of him and all the men who are with him not one will get away with his life.

13 And if he will enter into any city, all of Israel shall encircle that city with ropes. And we will pull it into the torrent, so that there may not be found even one small stone from it.”

And if he has gone into some town, then let all Israel take strong cords to that town, and we will have it pulled into the valley, till not one small stone is to be seen there.

14 And Absalom, with all the men of Israel, said: “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” So, by an act of the Lord, the useful counsel of Ahithophel was defeated, in order that the Lord might lead evil over Absalom.

Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, Hushai's suggestion is better than that of Ahithophel. For it was the purpose of the Lord to make the wise designs of Ahithophel without effect, so that the Lord might send evil on Absalom.

15 And Hushai said to the priests, Zadok and Abiathar: “Ahithophel gave counsel to Absalom and to the elders of Israel in this and that manner. And I gave counsel in such and such a manner.

Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, This is the suggestion made by Ahithophel to Absalom and the responsible men of Israel, and this is what I said to them.

16 Now therefore, send quickly, and report to David, saying: ‘You shall not stay this night in the plains of the desert. Instead, without delay, go across. Otherwise the king may be engulfed, and all the people who are with him.’”

So now send the news quickly to David, and say, Do not take your night's rest by the way across the river to the waste land, but be certain to go over; or the king and all the people with him will come to destruction.

17 But Jonathan and Ahimaaz remained beside the Fountain of Rogel. And a handmaid went away and reported it to them. And they set out, so that they might carry the report to king David. For they could not be seen, nor enter into the city.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel; and a servant-girl went from time to time and gave them news and they went with the news to King David, for it was not wise for them to let themselves be seen coming into the town.

18 But a certain young man saw them, and he revealed it to Absalom. Yet truly, they traveled quickly and entered into the house of a certain man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court, and they descended into it.

But a boy saw them, and gave word of it to Absalom: so the two of them went away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a water-hole in his garden, and they went down into it.

19 Then a woman took and spread a covering over the mouth of the well, as if drying hulled barley. And so the matter was hidden.

And a woman put a cover over the hole, and put crushed grain on top of it, and no one had any knowledge of it.

20 And when the servants of Absalom had entered into the house, they said to the woman, “Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman responded to them, “They passed through hurriedly, after they had taken a little water.” But those who were seeking them, when they had not found them, returned to Jerusalem.

And Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house and said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone from here to the stream. And after searching for them, and seeing nothing of them, they went back to Jerusalem.

21 And when they had gone, they ascended from the well. And traveling, they reported to king David, and they said: “Rise up, and go across the river quickly. For Ahithophel has given a counsel of this kind against you.”

Then after the servants had gone away, they came up out of the water-hole and went to give King David the news; and they said, Get up and go quickly over the water, for such and such are Ahithophel's designs against you.

22 Therefore, David rose up, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed over the Jordan, until first light. And not even one of them was left behind who had not crossed over the river.

So David and all the people who were with him went up over Jordan: when dawn came, every one of them had gone over Jordan.

23 Then Ahithophel, seeing that his counsel had not been done, saddled his donkey, and he rose up and went away to his own house and to his own city. And putting his house in order, he killed himself by hanging. And he was buried in the sepulcher of his father.

Now when Ahithophel saw that his suggestion was not acted on, he got his ass ready, and went back to his house, to the town where he came from, and having put his house in order, he put himself to death by hanging; so he came to his end and was put in the resting-place of his father.

24 Then David went to the encampment, and Absalom crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

And David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom, with all the men of Israel, went over Jordan.

25 Truly, Absalom appointed Amasa in place of Joab over the army. Now Amasa was the son of a man who was called Ithra of Jezrael, who entered to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, who was the mother of Joab.

And Absalom put Amasa at the head of the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had been the lover of Abigail, the daughter of Jesse, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

26 And Israel made camp with Absalom in the land of Gilead.

And Israel and Absalom put up their tents in the land of Gilead.

27 And when David had arrived at the encampment, Shobi, the son of Nahash, from Rabbah, of the sons of Ammon, and Machir, the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai, the Gileadite of Rogelim,

Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi, the son of Nahash of Rabbah, the Ammonite, and Machir, the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

28 brought to him bedding, and tapestries, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and cooked grain, and beans, and lentils, and fried chick peas,

Came with beds and basins and pots, and grain and meal, and all sorts of dry foods,

29 and honey, and butter, sheep and fattened calves. And they gave these to David and to the people who were with him to eat. For they suspected that the people were faint with hunger and thirst in the desert.

And honey and butter and sheep and milk-cheeses, for David and his people: for they said, This people is in the waste land, needing food and drink and rest.