II Samuel 17

 II Samuel 17

1 And Achitofel said to Absalom, Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and follow after David this night.

2 And I will go upon him, for he is weary and weak in my hands: and I will make him afraid, and all the people that are with him shall flee; and then I will smite the king alone.

3 And I will bring back to thee all the people: for the man whom thou seekest is as it were become all; then all the people will be at peace.

4 And the word seemed good in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.

5 But Absalom said, Call now also Hushai the Archite: and let us hear also what he shall say.

6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Thus spake Ahitophel: shall we do according to his word?

If not, you speak.

7 Then said Hushai to Absalom, The counsel which Achitofel this time counseled is not good.

8 And Hushai said, Thou knowest thy father, and his men, that they are valiant, and that they are in bitterness of spirit, like a bear in the field, stolen from the dogs: thy father also is a man of war, and will not pass to night with the people.

9 Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place: and it shall come to pass that some among them fall at the beginning, every one that heareth then shall say, There has been defeat in the people that followed Absalom.

10 Then even the mighty man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, shall surely faint; for all Israel knoweth that thy father is mighty, and mighty men that are with him.

11 But I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba be gathered to you with all haste, like the sand of the sea in multitude, and that you go to battle in person.

12 Then we will go to him, wherever he may be found, and easily come upon him, as the dew falls on the earth; and not one will remain of him and of all the men who are with him.

13 And if he withdraws to any city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it to the brook, until not a single stone can be found there.

14 Then said Absalom and all the men of Israel, Better is the counsel of Hushai the Archite than the counsel of Achitofel (but thus the LORD had commanded, to overthrow the good counsel of Achitofel, that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom).

15 And Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Achitofel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; but so and so I advised.

16 Now therefore, send quickly, and tell David, saying, Do not pass over the desert plains tonight, but pass quickly to the other side, that the king and all the people that are with him may not be devoured.

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were at the well of Rogel: and there was a maid, and told him, and they went, and told king David, because they could not be seen entering the city.

18 But a young man saw them, and told Absalom; but both of them immediately departed in haste, and entered a man's house at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and thither they went down.

19 And the woman took the cover, and stretched it over the well's mouth, and sprinkled husked grain over it: so nothing was known.

20 When Absalom's servants came to the woman in the house, they said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And the woman said unto them, They are passed over the ford of the waters. And having sought them, and not finding them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21 And it came to pass, after they departed, that they came out of the well, and went, and told David, Arise, and pass quickly over the waters: for thus hath Achitofel counseled against you.

22 Then David and all the people that were with him arose, and they crossed the Jordan: and by the morning light there was not yet one left who did not cross the Jordan.

23 And when Achitofel saw that his counsel had not been followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and went to his house, and to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself: and he died, and was buried in his father's grave.

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

25 And Absalom appointed Amasa in place of Joab over the camp: and Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Jethra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

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