Counsel in Absalom's Court; Ahithophel's Plan and Hushai's Counterplot
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Chapter 16
15Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.16When Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, "Long live the king! Long live the king!"17And Absalom said to Hushai, "Is this your steadfast love for your companion? Why did you not go with your companion?"18Hushai said to Absalom, "No; the one the LORD has chosen, this people and all the men of Israel—their leader is the one I will be with, and with him I will stay."19And the second row, to whom do I serve? Is it not before his son? Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.20Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give your counsel. What shall we do?"21Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go in to your father's concubines whom he left to guard the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made your father stink, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened."22So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.23And the counsel of Ahithophel which he counseled in those days was as when a man inquires of the word of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel, both to David and to Absalom.
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Chapter 17
1And Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight."2And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and I will terrify him, and all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike the king alone.3And I will bring all the people back to you like the return of everyone—the man you are seeking. All the people will be in peace.4And the word was right in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.5Absalom said, "Call Hushai the Archite now too, and we will hear what he has to say."6When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, "Is this Ahithophel's advice how we should proceed? We will do it. If not, you speak."7And Hushai said to Absalom, "The advice that Ahithophel has advised this time is not good."8And Hushai said, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men of war, and they are bitter of soul, like a bear bereaved in the field. And your father is a man of war, and he will not lodge with the people."9Behold, now he is hidden in one of the pits or in one of the places. And it will be as when they fall among them at the first, and one heard the report and said, "There was a slaughter among the people who are after Absalom."10And he also—a son of power whose heart is like the heart of the lion—the melting one will melt, for he has known all Israel that your father is a mighty one and sons of power who are with him.11For I counsel that you gather all Israel against you from Dan even to Beer-sheba, like the sand that is on the sea for multitude, with you personally going into the midst.12We will come to him in one of the places where he is found, and we will encamp against him just as the dew falls on the ground, and there will not remain of him and of all the men who are with him even one.13If he withdraws to a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the ravine 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." And the LORD commanded to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel, the good one, for the sake of the LORD bringing evil to Absalom.15Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "In this way and in this way Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and in this way and in this way I counseled."16Now send quickly and tell David, saying, "Do not lodge tonight in the plains of the wilderness, but also—pass over, cross over, lest he swallow up the king and all the people who are with him."17And Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, and a maidservant went and told them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city.18A youth saw them and told Absalom. The two of them went quickly and came to the house of Huram in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they went down there.19The woman took the screen and spread it over the mouth of the well. She spread ground-cloths over it, and nothing was known.20Absalom's servants came to the woman in the house and said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said to them, "They crossed over the ritual purification waters." They searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.21After they left, they went up from the well, went, and told King David. They said to David, "Arise and cross over the waters quickly, for in this way has Ahithophel counseled against you."22David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan until the light of the morning. Not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.23And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not done, and he saddled the donkey and arose and went to his house, to his city. And he commanded his household, and he strangled himself and died. And they buried him in the burial place of his father.24David came from Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan—he and all the men of Israel with him.25And there Absalom put Amasa in place of Joab over the army, and Amasa son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who came to Abigail daughter of Nahash sister of Zeruiah mother of Joab.26Israel encamped, and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.27And it was when David came to the camp that Shobi son of Nachash from Rabbah of the sons of Amon, Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim came.28bed and blankets and cultic vessels and potter's ware and wheat and barley and flour and roasted grain and beans and lentils and roasted grain.29They brought honey, curds, sheep, and curds of oxen near to David and to the people who were with him to eat, for they said, "The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness."