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 weak-handed, and I will strike him with terror; and all the people with him shall flee, and I will smite the king alone.
3
And I will bring back all the people to you, as a bride returns to her husband: only you seek 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, speak up.
7
And Hushai said to Absalom, This counsel which Ahithophel has counseled 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 their spirit, as a bereaved bear in the field, [and as a wild boar in the plain]; and your 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 your 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 you from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is upon the seashore for multitude; and that your 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 has purposed to defeat 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: but 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 went to tell King David; so that they might not be seen entering 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 grain 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 have 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, 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 the Jordan till the morning light; there was not one missing who did not pass over the Jordan.
23
And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, and he saddled his donkey, 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 tomb of his father.
24
And David passed over to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
25
And Absalom appointed Amasa over the army, in the place of Joab. 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 Manahaim, 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, earthenware and wheat, barley and flour, meal and beans, and parched [seeds],
29
honey and butter, sheep and cheese of the herd. And they brought them to David and to his people with him to eat; for [one] said, The people [are] faint and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.
