2 Samuel 17

1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and set off in pursuit of David tonight.

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

2 I'll attack him while he is tired and weak. I'll catch him by surprise and all his men will run away. I'll only kill the king

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 bring everybody else back to you. When everybody returns apart from the one man you're after, the whole country will be at 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 This plan looked good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.

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

5 But then Absalom said, “Call in Hushai the Archite too, and let's hear what he's got to say as well.”

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

6 When Hushai came in, Absalom, asked him, “Ahithophel has recommended this plan. Should we go ahead with it? If not, what's your suggestion?”

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 “For once Ahithophel's advice isn't good,” Hushai replied.

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

8 “You know what your father and his men are like. They're great fighters, and now they're as furious as a she-bear robbed of her cubs. In any case, your father is experienced in military tactics, and he won't spend the night with his men.

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 Right now he's holed up in a cave or some place like that. If he attacks first and some of your men are killed, people who hear about it will say, ‘Absalom's men are being slaughtered.’

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 Then even the bravest soldier who has the heart of a lion will be scared to death, because everyone in Israel knows that your father is a powerful man who has brave men with him.

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 My recommendation is that you call up the entire Israelite army from Dan to Beersheba—an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore! Once they've assembled, then you yourself lead them into battle!

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 Then we'll attack David wherever he is, and we'll fall on him as dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor a single one of all the men with him will be left alive!

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 If he tries to find protection in a town, all of Israel will bring ropes to that town, and we will pull it down into the valley so that not even a stone will be left.”

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 Absalom and all the Israelite leaders said, “Hushai the Arkite's advice is better than Ahithophel's.” For the Lord had decided to block Ahithophel's good advice in order that he might bring disaster on 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 Hushai spoke to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, and told them, “Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the Israelite leaders to act in one way, but I have advised them to act in this different way.

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 So send a message quickly to David and tell him, ‘Don't wait and spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but cross over immediately or the king and everybody with him will be destroyed.’”

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 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel because they couldn't be seen entering the city. A servant girl would come and tell them what was happening. Then they would go and let King David know.

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 boy did see them and he told Absalom. So the two left immediately and went to the house of a man in the town of Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed 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 His wife took a cloth to cover the well and spread it out over the opening and then scattered grain over it. No one knew the men were there.

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 When Absalom's officers arrived they asked the woman, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” “They crossed over the stream,” she replied. The men searched for them but didn't find them, so they went back 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 After Absalom's officers left, the two men climbed out of the well and rushed off to give the king their message. “Have everybody get up and cross the river right away, for Ahithophel's advice is to attack you immediately.”

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 David and everybody with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By the time it got light there wasn't anybody who hadn't crossed over.

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 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had been ignored, he saddled up his donkey and left for his home in the town where he lived. He put his affairs in order and then he hanged himself. He died and was buried in his father's tomb.

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 David went on to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed over the Jordan with the entire Israelite army.

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

25 Absalom had put Amasa in charge of the army to replace Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite who lived with Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

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 The Israelites under Absalom set up camp in the land of Gilead.

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

27 When David arrived at Mahanaim, he was welcomed by Shobi, son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir, son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from 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 They brought bedding, bowls, and clay jars, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils,

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

29 honey, curds, sheep, and cheese made from cow's milk for David and the people with him to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty from their time in the wilderness.”

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.