2 Samuel 17
17
1Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick twelve thousand men, and I will go after David tonight. 2I will attack him while he is tired and weak, and I will throw him into a panic. All the troops with him will run off. I promise to kill the king alone, 3and I will bring all the people back to you like a bride comes back to her husband.#17.3 LXX; Heb uncertain It’s only one man’s life you are seeking; everyone else can be at peace.”
4This plan seemed excellent to Absalom and the Israelite elders.
Hushai’s advice
5But Absalom said, “Call Hushai from Erek. Let’s hear what he has to say as well.” 6When Hushai from Erek arrived, Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow it or not? What do you say?”
7Hushai said to Absalom, “This time, the advice Ahithophel has given isn’t right. 8You know that your father and his men are warriors,” he continued, “and they are as desperate as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is a seasoned fighter. He won’t spend the night with his troops. 9Even now he has probably hidden himself in one of the caves or some other place. When some of the troops#17.9 LXX fall in the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘The soldiers who follow Absalom have been defeated!’ 10Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like a lion’s, will melt in fear because all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave. 11So I would advise that all the Israelites, from Dan to Beer-sheba—a group as countless as sand on the seashore—be summoned to join you, and that you yourself go into battle. 12When we attack him wherever he might be, we will fall on him like dew that falls on the ground. No one will survive—not him and not one of the soldiers who are with him! 13If he retreats into a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into a valley until not even a pebble of it will be found.”
14Then Absalom and everyone in Israel agreed, “The advice of Hushai from Erek is better than Ahithophel’s advice.” This was because the LORD had decided to counter Ahithophel’s good advice so that the LORD could bring disaster on Absalom.
Hushai warns David
15Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “Here is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the Israelite elders, and here is what I advised. 16Now send word immediately to David and tell him, ‘Don’t spend the night in the desert plains. You must cross over immediately. Otherwise, the king and all the troops who are with him will be swallowed up whole.’”
17Jonathan and Ahimaaz were standing by at En-rogel. A female servant would come and report to them, and they would then travel and report to King David because they couldn’t risk being seen entering the city. 18But a boy saw them and reported it to Absalom. So the two of them left immediately and came to a man’s house at Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. 19The man’s wife took a covering and spread it over the well’s opening, then scattered grain over it so no one would notice. 20When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house they demanded, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
The woman told them, “They crossed over the stream.”#17.20 Heb uncertain They looked for them but found nothing, so they returned to Jerusalem.
21After they had left, Jonathan and Ahimaaz climbed out of the well. They went and reported to King David, “Get up! Cross the water immediately because Ahithophel has made plans against you!” 22So David and all the troops who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. By daybreak there was no one left who hadn’t crossed the Jordan.
23Meanwhile, once Ahithophel saw that his advice hadn’t been followed, he saddled his donkey and went home to his own town. He gave instructions to his household, then hanged himself and died. He was buried in his father’s tomb.
24David had reached Mahanaim by the time Absalom and all the Israelites who were with him crossed the Jordan River. 25Absalom had put Amasa in charge of the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, an Ishmaelite#17.25 LXXA and 1 Chron 2:17; MT an Israelite; LXXM a Jezreelite who had married Abigail, who was Nahash’s daughter and the sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26Israel and Absalom camped in the territory of Gilead.
27When David arrived in Mahanaim, Nahash’s son Shobi, who was from Rabbah of the Ammonites; Ammiel’s son Machir, who was from Lo-debar; and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28brought couches, basins, and pottery, along with wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, 29honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd so that David and the troops who were with him could eat. They said, “The troops have grown hungry, tired, and thirsty in the wilderness.”
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2 Samuel 17: CEB
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