2Samuel:17:1-23

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* Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom , Let me now choose out twelve thousand men , and I will arise and pursue after David this night : * And 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 : * And 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 . * And the saying pleased Absalom well , and all the elders of Israel . * Then said Absalom , Call now Hushai the Archite also , and let us hear likewise what he saith . * And 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 . * And Hushai said unto Absalom , The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time . * For , 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 . * Behold , 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 . * And 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 . * Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee , from Dan even to Beersheba , as the sand that is by the sea for multitude ; and that thou go to battle in thine own person . * So 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 . * Moreover , 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 . * And 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 . * Then 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 . * Now 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 . * Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel ; 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 . * Nevertheless 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 . * And the woman took and spread a covering over the well 's mouth , and spread ground corn thereon ; and the thing was not known . * And 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 . * And 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 . * Then 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 . * And 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 .

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