2 Samuel 17

Hushai’s Counsel

1Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. 21I will come upon him while he is weary and 2exhausted and terrify him, so that all the people who are with him will flee. Then 3I will strike down the king alone, 3and I will bring back all the people to you. 4The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at 5peace.” 4So the 6plan pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

5Then Absalom said, “Now call 7Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what 8he has to say.” 6When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to 9him, “Ahithophel has spoken 10thus. Shall we 11carry out his plan? If not, you speak.” 7So Hushai said to Absalom, “12This time the advice that Ahithophel has 13given is not good.” 8Moreover, Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are 14fierce, 15like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is an 16expert in warfare, and will not spend the night with the people. 9Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of the 17caves or in another place; and it will be 18when 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.’ 10And even the one who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, 19will completely 20lose heart; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men. 11But I counsel that all Israel be surely gathered to you, 21from Dan even to Beersheba, 22as the sand that is by the sea in abundance, and that 23you personally go into battle. 12So we shall come to him in one of the places where he can be found, and we will 24fall on him 25as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be left. 13If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will 26drag it into the 27valley until not even a small stone is found there.” 14Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For 28the Lord had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring calamity on Absalom.

Hushai’s Warning Saves David

15Then 29Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “30This is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and 31this is what I have counseled. 16Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘32Do 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 33destroyed.’” 1734Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at 35En-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. 18But a lad did see them and told Absalom; so the two of them departed quickly and came to the house of a man 36in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down 37into it. 19And 38the woman 39took a covering and spread it over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, so that nothing was known. 20Then Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And 40the woman said to them, “They have crossed the brook of water.” And when they searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21It 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, “41Arise and cross over the water quickly for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you.” 22Then David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed the Jordan; and by 42dawn not even one remained who had not crossed the Jordan.

23Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not 43followed, he 44saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to 45his city, and 4647set his house in order, and 48strangled himself; thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father.

24Then David came to 49Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25Absalom set 50Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was 51Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of 52Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

27Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi 53the son of Nahash from 54Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, 55Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and 56Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 28brought 57beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched seeds, 29honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him, 58to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”