2 Samuel 17

¹Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: Copy Many Bible Versions

²And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only: Copy Many Bible Versions

³And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace. Copy Many Bible Versions

⁴And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. Copy Many Bible Versions

⁵Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. Copy Many Bible Versions

⁶And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou. Copy Many Bible Versions

⁷And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time. Copy Many Bible Versions

⁸For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. Copy Many Bible Versions

⁹Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹⁰And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹¹Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer–sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹²So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹³Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there. Copy Many Bible Versions

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 appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹⁵Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹⁶Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En–rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹⁸Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down. Copy Many Bible Versions

¹⁹And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known. Copy Many Bible Versions

²⁰And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. Copy Many Bible Versions

²¹And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you. Copy Many Bible Versions

²²Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. Copy Many Bible Versions

²³And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. Copy Many Bible Versions

²⁴Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. Copy Many Bible Versions

²⁵And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man’s son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother. Copy Many Bible Versions

²⁶So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. Copy Many Bible Versions

²⁷And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo–debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, Copy Many Bible Versions

²⁸Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, Copy Many Bible Versions

²⁹And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. Copy Many Bible Versions