2Samuel:17

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Moreover Ahithophel said to 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 who are with him shall flee . And I will only smite the king , * and I will bring back all the people to thee . The man whom thou seek 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 Absalom said , Call now Hushai the Archite also , and let us hear likewise what he says . * And when Hushai came to Absalom , Absalom spoke to him , saying , Ahithophel has spoken after this manner . Shall we do [after ] his saying ? If not , speak thou . * And Hushai said to Absalom , The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good . * Hushai said moreover , Thou know thy father and his men , that they are mighty men , and they are 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 are fallen at the first , that whoever hears it will say , There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom . * And even he who is valiant , whose heart is as the heart of a lion , will utterly melt , for all Israel knows that thy father is a mighty man , and those who are with him are valiant men . * But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to 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 we shall come upon him in some place where he shall be found , and we will light upon him as the dew falls on the ground , and of him and of all the men who are with him we will not leave so much as one . * Moreover , if he be gotten into a city , then all Israel shall 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 LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel , to the intent that LORD might bring evil upon A * Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests , Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel , and thus and thus have I counseled . * Now therefore send quickly , and tell David , saying , Do not lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness , but by all means pass over , lest the king be swallowed up , and all the people who are with him . * Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En-rogel . And a maid-servant used to go and tell them , and they went and told king David , for they might not be seen to come into the city . * But a lad saw them , and told Absalom . And they went away quickly , both of them , and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his court , and they went down there . * And the woman took and spread the covering over the well 's mouth , and spread ground grain on it . And nothing was known . * And Absalom 's servants came to the woman to the house , and 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 return * And it came to pass , after they were departed , that they came up out of the well , and went and told king David . And they said to David , Arise ye , and pass quickly over the water , for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you . * Then David arose , and all the people who were with him , and they passed over the Jordan . By the morning light there lacked not one of them who was not gone over the Jordan . * And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed , he saddled his donkey , and arose , and got home to his city , and set his house in order , and hanged himself . And he died , and was buried in the sepulcher of his father . * Then David came to Mahanaim . And Absalom passed over the Jordan , he and all the men of Israel with him . * And Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab . Now Amasa was the son of a man , whose name was Ithra the Israelite , who went in to Abigal the daughter of Nahash , sister to Zeruiah , Joab 's mother . * And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead . * And it came to pass , when David came to Mahanaim , that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon , and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar , and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim , * brought beds , and basins , and earthen vessels , and wheat , and barley , and meal , and roasted [grain ], and beans , and lentils , and roasted [pulse ], * and honey , and butter , and sheep , and cheese of the herd , for David , and for the people who were with him , to eat . For they said , The people are hungry , and weary , and thirsty , in the wilderness .

---