2 Samuel 17

1 Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and I arise and pursue after David tonight,

2 And I will come upon him while he [is] weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that [are] with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

and come on him, and he [will be] weary and feeble-handed, and I have caused him to tremble, and all the people who [are] with him have fled, and I have struck the king by himself,

3 And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest [is] as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.

and I bring back all the people to you—as the turning back of the whole [except] the man whom you are seeking—[then] all the people are [at] peace.”

4 And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

And the word is right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all [the] elderly of Israel.

5 Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.

And Absalom says, “Now call for Hushai the Archite also, and we hear what [is] in his mouth—even he.”

6 And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do [after] his saying? if not; speak thou.

And Hushai comes to Absalom, and Absalom speaks to him, saying, “According to this word Ahithophel has spoken; do we do his word? If not, you—speak.”

7 And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given [is] not good at this time.

And Hushai says to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has counseled [is] not good at this time.”

8 For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they [be] mighty men, and they [be] chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father [is] a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

And Hushai says, “You have known your father and his men, that they [are] heroes, and they are bitter in soul as a bereaved bear in a field, and your father [is] a man of war, and does not lodge with the people;

9 Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

behold, now, he is hidden in one of the pits, or in one of the places, and it has been at the falling among them at the commencement, that the hearer has heard and said, There has been a slaughter among the people who [are] after Absalom;

10 And he also [that is] valiant, whose heart [is] as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father [is] a mighty man, and [they] which [be] with him [are] valiant men.

and he also, the son of valor, whose heart [is] as the heart of the lion, utterly melts, for all Israel knows that your father is a hero, and those with him [are] sons of valor.

11 Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

So that I have counseled: let all Israel be diligently gathered to you, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude, and you yourself are going in the midst;

12 So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that [are] with him there shall not be left so much as one.

and we have come to him in one of the places where he is found, and we [are] on him as the dew falls on the ground, and there has not been left of him and of all the men who [are] with him even one.

13 Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

And if he is gathered to a city, then they have caused all Israel to carry ropes to that city, and we have drawn it to the brook until there has not even been found a stone there.”

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 had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

And Absalom says—and all the men of Israel, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite [is] better than the counsel of Ahithophel”; and YHWH willed to make void the good counsel of Ahithophel for the sake of YHWH’s bringing the calamity to Absalom.

15 Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled.

And Hushai says to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “Thus and thus Ahithophel has counseled Absalom and the elderly of Israel, and thus and thus I have counseled;

16 Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that [are] with him.

and now, send quickly, and declare [it] to David, saying, Do not lodge in the plains of the wilderness tonight, and also, certainly pass over, lest there is a swallowing up of the king and of all the people who are with him.”

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.

And Jonathan and Ahimaaz are standing at En-Rogel, and the maidservant has gone and declared [it] to them—and they go and have declared [it] to King David—for they are not able to be seen to go into the city.

18 Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down.

And a youth sees them, and declares [it] to Absalom; and both of them go on quickly, and come to the house of a man in Bahurim, and he has a well in his court, and they go down there,

19 And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.

and the woman takes and spreads the covering over the face of the well, and spreads the ground grain on it, and the thing has not been known.

20 And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where [is] Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find [them], they returned to Jerusalem.

And the servants of Absalom come to the woman at the house, and say, “Where [are] Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman says to them, “They passed over the brook of water”; and they seek, and have not found, and return to Jerusalem.

21 And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.

And it comes to pass, after their going on, that they come up out of the well, and go and declare [it] to King David, and say to David, “Rise, and pass over the waters quickly, for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.”

22 Then David arose, and all the people that [were] with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.

And David rises, and all the people who [are] with him, and they pass over the Jordan, until the morning light, until not one has been lacking who has not passed over the Jordan.

23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled [his] ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

And Ahithophel has seen that his counsel was not done, and he saddles the donkey, and rises and goes to his house, to his city, and gives charge to his household, and strangles himself, and dies, and he is buried in the burying-place of his father.

24 Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

And David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him;

25 And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa [was] a man’s son, whose name [was] Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother.

and Absalom has set Amasa over the host instead of Joab, and Amasa [is] a man’s son whose name is Ithra the Israeli who has gone in to Abigail, daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, mother of Joab;

26 So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.

and Israel encamps with Absalom [in] the land of Gilead.

27 And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

And it comes to pass at the coming in of David to Mahanaim, that Shobi son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel, from Behold-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim,

28 Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched [corn], and beans, and lentiles, and parched [pulse],

[have brought] bed, and basin, and earthen vessel, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and roasted [grain], and beans, and lentiles, and roasted [pulse],

29 And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that [were] with him, to eat: for they said, The people [is] hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of cows; they have brought [these] near for David, and for the people who [are] with him to eat, for they said, “Your people [are] hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.”