2 Samuel 17
17
1Ahithophel also said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men so that I may arise and pursue David tonight. 2#2Sa 16:14; 1Ki 22:31I will overtake him while he is weary and weak and strike him with terror; all of the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike only the king, 3and I will return all of the people to you. When all return except the man whom you are seeking, all of the people will be at peace.” 4The advice pleased Absalom and all of the elders of Israel.
5So Absalom said, “Summon Hushai the Arkite so that we may hear what he has to say as well.” 6When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel had advised. Should we do this thing? If not, you should tell us.”
7Hushai said to Absalom, “At this time, the advice that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8#Hos 13:8; 1Sa 16:18Moreover, Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are warriors, and they have been provoked like a bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is a veteran of warfare. He will not spend the night with the people. 9Even now, he has hidden himself in a ravine or some other place, and when one of them falls in the first attack, whoever hears will say, ‘It was a defeat for the people who follow Absalom.’ 10#Jos 2:9–11Then even the valiant one, whose heart is like that of a lion, will completely despair, for all of Israel knows that your father is a warrior, and those who are with him are brave.
11#Ge 22:17; Jos 11:4“Therefore my advice is for all of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, to be completely gathered to you like the multitude of the sand along the shoreline and for you to go to battle in person. 12We will come upon him in one of the places where he may be found, and we will fall upon him like the dew upon the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will remain, not a single one. 13If he withdraws into a city, then all of Israel will bring ropes to that city. We will raze it until it is a valley, until there cannot be found there even a pebble.”
14#2Sa 15:34; 15:31Then Absalom and all of the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had decided to undermine the prudent advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring calamity to Absalom.
Hushai Warns David to Escape
15Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do one thing, but I advised them to do another thing. 16#2Sa 15:28Now quickly send someone to report to David, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but instead cross over. Otherwise, the king and all of the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’ ”
17#Jos 15:7; 18:16Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En Rogel. A servant girl would go report to them, and they would go report to King David, because they could not be seen entering the city. 18#2Sa 3:16; 16:5But a young man saw them and reported this to Absalom. So the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. 19The wife took a covering and spread it over the opening of the well. Then she scattered grain over it so that nothing could be discerned.
20#Ex 1:19The servants of Absalom came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
She said, “They crossed over the brook of water.” When they searched, they could not find them. So they returned to Jerusalem.
21#2Sa 17:15–16After they left, they came up from the well, went, and reported to King David. They said to David, “Arise and quickly cross over the water because thus has Ahithophel advised against you.” 22So David and all of the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan. By daybreak, there was not one left who had not crossed over the Jordan.
23#2Sa 15:12; 2Ki 20:1When Ahithophel realized that his advice was not followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his own city. He gave instruction to his household, then he hanged himself and died; he was interred in the tomb of his father.
Absalom’s Death
24#Ge 32:2; 2Sa 2:8David came to Mahanaim as Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and every Israelite with him. 25#2Sa 19:13; 20:9–12Now Absalom had placed Amasa over the army in the place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man named Jether the Ishmaelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. 26Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
27#2Sa 9:4; 10:1–2When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28brought bedding, metal bowls, ceramic vessels, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, 29#2Sa 16:2; 16:14honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the livestock for David and the people who were with him to eat and use. For they said, “The people are hungry, exhausted, and thirsting in the wilderness.”
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2 Samuel 17: MEV
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