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Hushai's Counsel

¹ Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight.² "^(C1)I will come upon him while he is weary and ^(F1)exhausted and terrify him, so that all the people who are with him will flee. Then ^(C2)I will strike down the king alone,³ and I will bring back all the people to you. ^(F1)The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at ^(C1)peace."⁴ So the ^(F1)plan pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

⁵ Then Absalom said, "Now call ^(C1)Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what ^(F1)he has to say."⁶ When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to ^(F1)him, "Ahithophel has spoken ^(F2)thus. Shall we ^(F3)carry out his plan? If not, you speak."⁷ So Hushai said to Absalom, "^(C1)This time the advice that Ahithophel has ^(F1)given is not good."⁸ Moreover, Hushai said, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are ^(F1)fierce, ^(C1)like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is an ^(F2)expert in warfare, and will not spend the night with the people.⁹ "Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of the ^(F1)caves or in another place; and it will be ^(F2)when he falls on them at the first attack, that whoever hears it will say, 'There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.'¹⁰ "And even the one who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, ^(C1)will completely ^(F1)lose heart; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men.¹¹ "But I counsel that all Israel be surely gathered to you, ^(C1)from Dan even to Beersheba, ^(C2)as the sand that is by the sea in abundance, and that ^(F1)you personally go into battle.¹² "So we shall come to him in one of the places where he can be found, and we will ^(F1)fall on him ^(C1)as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be left.¹³ "If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will ^(C1)drag it into the ^(F1)valley until not even a small stone is found there."¹⁴ Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For ^(C1)the LORD had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring calamity on Absalom.

Hushai's Warning Saves David

¹⁵ Then ^(C1)Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "^(F1)This is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and ^(F1)this is what I have counseled.¹⁶ "Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, '^(C1)Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over, or else the king and all the people who are with him will be ^(F1)destroyed.'"^17 (C1)Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at ^(C2)En-rogel, and a maidservant would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city.¹⁸ But a lad did see them and told Absalom; so the two of them departed quickly and came to the house of a man ^(C1)in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down ^(F1)into it.¹⁹ And ^(C1)the woman ^(F1)took a covering and spread it over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, so that nothing was known.²⁰ Then Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house and said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And ^(C1)the woman said to them, "They have crossed the brook of water." And when they searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ It came about after they had departed that they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David, "^(C1)Arise and cross over the water quickly for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you."²² Then David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed the Jordan; and by ^(F1)dawn not even one remained who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³ Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not ^(F1)followed, he ^(F2)saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to ^(C1)his city, and ^(F3)(C2)set his house in order, and ^(C3)strangled himself; thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to ^(C1)Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.²⁵ Absalom set ^(C1)Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was ^(F1)Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of ^(C2)Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.²⁶ And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi ^(C1)the son of Nahash from ^(C2)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, ^(C3)Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and ^(C4)Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,²⁸ brought ^(C1)beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched seeds,²⁹ honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him, ^(C1)to eat; for they said, "The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."