2 Samuel 17
1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men. I will set out and pursue David tonight.
2 I will fall on him while he is weary and weak, and strike fear into him. All the people with him will flee, and I will strike down the king alone.
3 I will bring all the people back to you. The return of all is the man you seek, and all the people will be at peace.”
4 The proposal seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.
5 But Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite too, and let us hear what he has to say as well.”
6 Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “Ahithophel has given this advice. Should we do what he says? If not, speak up.”
7 Hushai replied to Absalom, “This time the advice Ahithophel has given is not good.”
8 Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men: they are warriors, and their spirits are bitter, like a bear in the countryside that has lost her cubs. Besides, your father is a man of war and will not spend the night with the people.
9 He is probably hidden now in one of the caves or somewhere else. If some of our men fall at the very beginning, whoever hears of it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’
10 Then even a brave man, with a heart like a lion’s, will completely lose heart, for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that the men with him are brave.
11 So I advise that all Israel gather to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as numerous as the sand by the sea, and that you yourself go into battle.
12 Then we will come against him wherever he is found and fall on him as dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men with him will be left alive.
13 If he withdraws into a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down to the stream until not even a pebble is left there.”
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s advice.” For the LORD had decided to frustrate Ahithophel’s good advice, so that the LORD might bring disaster on Absalom.
15 Hushai said to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I advised.
16 “Now send word quickly to David: ‘Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness. Be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him may be swallowed up.’”
17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel. A servant girl would go and bring them the news, and they would go tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city.
18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. The two of them hurried away and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. They climbed down into it.
19 The woman took a covering, spread it over the opening of the well, and scattered grain over it. No one knew anything about it.
20 Absalom’s servants came to the woman’s house and asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman answered them, “They crossed the stream.” They searched but did not find them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21 After they had gone, the two men climbed up 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.”
22 David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By the time day broke, not one of them was missing; they had all crossed the Jordan.
23 Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed. He saddled his donkey, set out, and went home to his own city. He put his household in order, then hanged himself. He died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
24 David arrived at Mahanaim, while Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.
25 Absalom had put Amasa in charge of the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite, who had relations with Abigail, daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.
26 Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
27 When David arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim,
28 brought beds, basins, earthenware vessels, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, and roasted grain,
29 honey, curds, sheep, and cheese made from cow’s milk. They brought these to David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.”
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app