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BibleCompass

/Chapter 17

17 / 24

2 Samuel

ESV

Chapter 17

¹Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. ²I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down the king only, ³and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.” ⁴And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel. ⁵Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” ⁶And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Ahithophel has spoken after this manner; shall we do as he advises? If not, you speak.” ⁷Then Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.” ⁸Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is a man of war; he will not spend the night with the people. ⁹Behold, he is now hidden in some pit or some other place. And if some of our men fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰Then even the man who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. ¹¹But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. ¹²So we shall come upon him in some place where he is found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. ¹³If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is found there.” ¹⁴And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom. ¹⁵Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “This is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I have counseled. ¹⁶Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’” ¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they must not be seen entering the city. ¹⁸But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. ¹⁹And the woman took and spread a covering over the mouth of the well and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. ²⁰When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. ²¹After they had gone, the men came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, “Arise and go quickly over the water, for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.” ²²So David and all the people who were with him arose and went over the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan. ²³When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city and set his house in order and hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father. ²⁴Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had gone to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ²⁶And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. ²⁷When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, ²⁸brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, ²⁹and honey, curds, and sheep, and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”