2 Samuel 17

1 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose out twelve thousand men for myself, and I will get up and go after David tonight. 2 I will come on him while he is worn out and his hands hang slack, and I will throw him into panic, and all the people with him will run; and I will strike down the king alone. 3 And I will bring all the people back to you, the way a bride comes back to her husband. It is the life of one man that you are after, and all the people will be at peace.” 4 And the word was right in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.

5 And Absalom said, “Call in Hushai the Archite as well, and let us hear what is in his mouth too.” 6 And Hushai came in to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him and said, “This is what Ahithophel has said. Shall we do what he says? And if not, speak yourself.” 7 And Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel Ahithophel has given this one time is not good.”

8 And Hushai said, “You know your father and his men — that they are very mighty, and bitter in soul, like a bear in the field robbed of her cubs, and like a wild boar on the plain. And your father is a man of war, and he will not let the people rest. [a] 9 Look — even now he is hidden in one of the hills, or in one of the other places. And when he falls on them at the start, whoever hears of it will hear and say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom’ — [b] 10 and then even a man of strength, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt clean away; for all Israel knows that your father is mighty, and that the men with him are men of strength. [c]

11 So this is the counsel I give: let all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand by the sea for number, and let you go yourself in the middle of them. 12 And we will come on him at whichever of the places we find him, and we will camp against him the way the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of the men with him we will not leave so much as one. 13 And if he draws back into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down into the valley, until not even a stone is left there.” [d]

14 And Absalom and every man of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had given the order that the good counsel of Ahithophel be broken up, so that the Lord might bring all the evil on Absalom.

15 And Hushai the Archite said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Such and such is the counsel Ahithophel gave to Absalom and to the elders of Israel, and such and such is the counsel I gave. 16 So now send quickly and tell David: ‘Do not spend the night in the plains of the wilderness. Cross over without waiting, or the king and all the people with him may be swallowed up.’” [e]

17 And Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at the spring of Rogel, and the servant girl would go and bring them word, and they would go and tell king David; for they could not let themselves be seen going into the city. [f] 18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim; and he had a cistern in his courtyard, and they went down into it. 19 And the woman took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the cistern, and spread crushed grain out on it to dry; and nothing was known of the matter. [g]

20 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 on a little way past the water.” And they searched and did not find them, and they went back to Jerusalem. 21 And after they had gone, the two came up out of the cistern and went and brought word to king David; and they said to David, “Get up and cross the water quickly, for this is the counsel Ahithophel has given against you.” 22 And David got up, and all the people with him, and they crossed the Jordan until the morning light; there was not one of them left who had not crossed the Jordan.

23 And Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been acted on, and he saddled his donkey and got up and went off to his house, to his own city. And he gave orders to his household, and he hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in his father’s tomb.

24 And David came through to Mahanaim; and Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and every man of Israel with him. 25 And Absalom put Amasa over the army in place of Joab. And Amasa was the son of a man named Jether the Israelite; this man had gone in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab. [h] 26 And all Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

27 And when David came to Mahanaim, Uesbi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim [i] 28 brought ten beds and thick rugs, and ten cauldrons, and clay pots, and wheat and barley and flour, and roasted barley meal, and beans and lentils, 29 and honey and butter and sheep and cheese from the herd; and they brought them to David and to the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and worn out and thirsty in the wilderness.” [j]