2 Samuel 17

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

2I will attack him while he is weary and discouraged. I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee. I will strike down only the king,

3and I will bring all the people back to you. The man you are seeking is worth the return of them all, and all the people will be at peace.”

4The plan seemed right to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.

5But Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite too, and let us hear what he has to say as well.”

6When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has proposed. Should we do what he says? If not, you tell us.”

7Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the advice Ahithophel has given is not good.”

8Hushai went on, “You know your father and his men. They are warriors, and they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the wild. Besides, your father is an experienced fighter; he will not spend the night with the troops.

9Even now he is hiding in one of the caves or some other place. If some of the troops fall at the first attack, whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’

10Then even the bravest man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will lose his nerve completely, for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that the men with him are brave.

11So my advice is this: Let all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, be gathered to you, as many as the sand by the sea, and you yourself lead them into battle.

12Then we will come against him wherever he may be found, and we will descend on him as the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men with him will be left alive, not even one.

13If he withdraws 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 pebble is left there.”

14Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had determined to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, so that Yahweh might bring disaster on Absalom.

15Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do such and such, but I have advised them to do such and such.

16Now send word quickly and tell David, ‘Do not spend the night in the plains of the wilderness. Be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him will be swallowed up.’”

17Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel. A servant girl would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not risk being seen entering the city.

18But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

19The man’s wife took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain on it, so that no one knew anything.

20When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman told them, “They crossed over the stream.” They searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

21After they had gone, the two men climbed out of the well and went to tell King David. They said to David, “Get up and cross the water quickly, for this is what Ahithophel has advised against you.”

22So David and all the people with him set out and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one of them was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

23When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for home to his own town. He put his household in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

24David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

25Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite, who had married Abigail daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.

26Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

27When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim

28brought bedding, basins, and pottery; wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, and more roasted grain,

29honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd. They presented these to David and the people with him to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry and exhausted and thirsty in the wilderness.”