17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out 12,000 men. I will arise and pursue David this very night. 17:2 When I come on him he will be exhausted and worn out; I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will then kill only the king. 17:3 Then I will return the entire army to you. The man whose life you are seeking would then be equivalent to the return of the entire army.1 Everything will be well with the people.”
17:4 This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel. 17:5 But Absalom said, “Summons2 also Hushai the Arkite, and let’s hear what he has to say.”3 17:6 So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you advise?”
17:7 Hushai replied to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has advised this time is not good.” 17:8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men—they are soldiers, and they are as dangerous as a bear out in the field bereft of its cubs.4 Your father is a soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army. 17:9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other such place. If it should turn out that he falls first on them, whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered.’ 17:10 If that happens even the bravest soldier—one who is in fact lion-hearted—will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are valiant. 17:11 My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beersheba—in number like the sand by the sea!—be gathered to you, and you personally go with them into battle. 17:12 We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will come down on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive—not one of them! 17:13 If he regroups to a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”
17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite seems better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the LORD had decided5 to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel so that the LORD could bring disaster to Absalom.
17:15 Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and here is what I have advised. 17:16 Now send word quickly to David and advise him, “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert tonight. Instead, be sure you pass over, lest they overcome the king and everyone who is with him.”
17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying put in En Rogel. It was often the case that a maidservant used to go and inform them, and they would then go and inform king David. For it was not advisable for them to be seen going to the city. 17:18 But a youth saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them hurriedly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it. 17:19 His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done.
17:20 When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they inquired, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the water brook.” But when they searched and did not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan6 climbed up out of the well. Then they left and informed king David. They advised David, “Get up and quickly cross the water, for here is what Ahithophel had advised against you.” 17:22 So David and all the people who were with him go up and crossed the Jordan. By morning’s light there was not one who had not crossed the Jordan.
17:23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been acted on, he saddled his donkey and went to his home in the city he was from. After giving certain instructions for his household, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave7 of his father.
17:24 Now David had gone to Mahanaim, and Absalom with all the men of Israel had crossed the Jordan. 17:25 Absalom had put Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a certain man whose name was Jether the Israelite who had married8 Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab. 17:26 The army of Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
17:27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites and Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 17:28 bought beds, basins, and pottery utensils. They also brought as food for David and the people who were with him wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils,9 17:29 honey, curds, flocks, cheese, and cattle. For they said, “The people are no doubt hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the desert.”