1   Ahithophel said to Absalom, ‘Let me pick twelve thousand men, and I will pursue David tonight. 2   I shall overtake him when he is tired and dispirited; I will cut him off from his people and they will all scatter; and I shall kill no one but the king. 3   I will bring all the people over to you as a bride is brought to her husband. It is only one man's life that you are seeking; ^note the rest of the people will be unharmed.’ 4   Absalom and all the elders of Israel approved of Ahithophel's advice; 5   but Absalom said, ‘Summon Hushai the Archite and let us hear what he too has to say.’ 6   Hushai came, and Absalom told him all that Ahithophel had said and asked him, ‘Shall we do what he says? If not, say what you think.’

7   Hushai said to Absalom, ‘For once the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good. 8   You know’, he went on, ‘that your father and the men with him are hardened warriors and savage as a bear in the wilds robbed of her cubs. Your father is an old campaigner and will not spend the night with the main body; 9   even now he will be lying hidden in a pit or in some such place. Then if any of your men are killed at the outset, anyone who hears the news will say, “Disaster has overtaken the followers of Absalom.” 10   The courage of the most resolute and lionhearted will melt away, for all Israel knows that your father is a man of

Absalom's rebellion and other conflicts war and has determined men with him. 11   My advice is this. Wait until the whole of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, is gathered about you, countless as grains of sand on the sea-shore, and then you shall march with them in person. ^note 12   Then we shall come upon him somewhere, wherever he may be, and descend on him like dew falling on the ground, and not a man of his family or of his followers will be left alive. 13   If he retreats into a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into a ravine until not a stone can be found on the site.’ 14   Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘Hushai the Archite gives us better advice than Ahithophel.’ It was the Lord's purpose to frustrate Ahithophel's good advice and so bring disaster upon Absalom.

15   Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar the priests all the advice that Ahithophel had given to Absalom and the elders of Israel, and also his own. 16   ‘Now send quickly to David,’ he said, ‘and warn him not to spend the night at the Fords of the Wilderness but to cross the river at once, before a blow can be struck at the king and his followers.’ 17   Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel, and a servant girl would go and tell them what happened and they would pass it on to King David; for they could not risk being seen entering the city. 18   But this time a lad saw them and told Absalom; so the two of them hurried to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a pit in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. 19   The man's wife took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the pit and strewed grain over it, and no one was any the wiser. 20   Absalom's servants came to the house and asked the woman, ‘Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?’ She answered, ‘They went beyond the pool.’ ^noteThe men searched but could not find them; so they went back to Jerusalem. 21   When they had gone the two climbed out of the pit and went off to report to King David and said, ‘Over the water at once, make haste!’, and they told him Ahithophel's plan against him. 22   So David and all his company began at once to cross the Jordan; by daybreak there was not one who had not reached the other bank.

23   When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been taken he saddled his ass, went straight home to his own city, gave his last instructions to his household, and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father's grave.

24   By the time that Absalom had crossed the Jordan with the Israelites, David was already at Mahanaim. 25   Absalom had appointed Amasa as commander-in-chief instead of Joab; he was the son of a man named Ithra, an Ishmaelite, ^note by Abigal daughter of Nahash and sister to Joab's mother Zeruiah. 26   The Israelites and Absalom camped in the

Absalom's rebellion and other conflicts district of Gilead. 27   When David came to Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash from the Ammonite town Rabbah, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, bringing mattresses and blankets, bowls and jugs. ^note 28   They brought also wheat and barley, 29   meal and parched grain, beans and lentils, ^note honey and curds, sheep and fat cattle, and offered them to David and his people to eat, knowing that the people must be hungry and thirsty and weary in the wilderness.

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