1 Ahitophel said to Absalom, ¡°Let me choose
twelve thousand men that I may set out and pursue David tonight.
2 I will attack him while he is tired and discouraged and throw him into a
panic. All those who are with him will flee so I will strike down only the
king.
3 Then I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her
husband. Seek the death of only one man and then all the people will be
unharmed.¡±
4 The advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
5 Then Absalom said, ¡°Call in Hushai the Archite to hear what he has to
say.¡±
6 When Hushai came before Absalom, Absalom asked him, ¡°Ahitophel has given
this advice. Shall we follow it? If not, you speak.¡±
7 So Hushai said to Absalom, ¡°This time, Ahitophel¡¯s advice is not good.
8 You know that your father and his men are warriors. When enraged, they are
like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert
enough in war not to spend the night with his men.
9 Right now he is hiding in one of the pits or in some other place. If some
of your men fall in the first attack, whoever hears of it will say, ¡®There
has been a slaughter among the men who follow Absa lom.¡¯
10 Then even the valiant man whose heart is like that of a lion will utterly
melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior, as are
the men who are with him.
11 My advice is for you to gather all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba,
as many as the sands of the sea, and go to battle in person.
12 Then we shall find him wherever he is and fall on him as the dew falls on
the ground. Neither he nor any of his men will be left alive.
13 If he withdraws into a city, all Israel will bring ropes and drag it into
the valley until not even a pebble of it re mains.¡±
14 Absalom and all the Israelites said, ¡°The counsel of Hushai the Archite
is better than the counsel of Ahitophel.¡± For Yahweh had decreed that the
good counsel of Ahitophel be defeated, so that he might bring evil upon
Absalom.
15 Then Hushai reported to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, ¡°Ahitophel
advised Absalom and the elders of Israel in this way; but I have advised
them in this manner.
16 Therefore send word to David quickly, ¡®Do not lodge tonight at the desert
fords. Go beyond them lest the King and all the men with him be trapped!¡±
17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at Enrogel where a maidservant
regularly went to report to them so they could go and tell king David, for
they themselves must not be seen in the city.
18 But a lad saw them and reported to Absalom. The two hurriedly left the
place and entered the house of a man of Bahurim who had a well in his
courtyard, and they got down into it.
19 The woman took a covering and spread it over the well¡¯s mouth, then
scattered grain over it without anyone noticing.
20 When Absa lom¡¯s servants came to the woman¡¯s house, they asked, ¡°Where
are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?¡± The woman answered them, ¡°They left, following
the brook.¡± They looked for them but could not find them; and so they
returned to Jerusalem.
21 After they had gone, the men came up out of the well and went to tell
David, ¡°Hurry and cross over the river, for this is what Ahitophel has
counseled against you.¡±
22 So David and all those who were with him crossed over the Jordan; and by
daybreak, not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.
23 When Ahitophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled his ass
and rode back home to his own city. After setting his house in order, he
hanged himself and died. He was then buried in the tomb of his father.
24 David had already entered Maha naim when Absalom crossed over the Jordan
with all the Israelites.
25 Absalom had put Amasa in charge of the army instead of Joab. Amasa was
the son of Ithra, an Ishmaelite who had married Abigail the daughter of
Isai, sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.
26 The Is raelites and Absalom pitched camp in the land of Gilead.
27 When David arrived at Maha naim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of
the Ammonites, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lodebar, and Barzillai the
Gileadite from Rogelim,
28 brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, roasted
grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds, sheep and cheese from the herd.
All this was for David and the people with him to eat
29 for they said, ¡°The people are hungry, weary and thirsty in the desert.¡±