2 Samuel 17

¹ Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom,The wicked are so greedy to execute their malice, that they leave no opportunity that may further the same.Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

² And I will come vpon him: for he is wearie, and weake handed: so I will feare him, and all the people that are with him, shall flee, and I will smite the King onely,

³ And I will bring back all the people unto thee:Meaning David.the man whom thou seekest [is] as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.

⁴ And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the Elders of Israel.

⁵ Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let vs heare likewise what he sayth.

⁶ So when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spake vnto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken thus: shall we doe after his saying, or no? tell thou.

⁷ And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given [is] notHushai shows himself faithful to David, in that he reproves this wicked counsel and purpose.good at this time.

⁸ For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father, and his men, that they be strong men, and are chafed in minde as a beare robbed of her whelps in the fielde: also thy father is a valiant warrier, and will not lodge with the people.

⁹ Behold, he is hid now in some caue, or in some place: and though some of them be ouerthrowen at the first, yet the people shall heare, and say, The people that follow Absalom, be ouerthrowen.

¹⁰ Then he also that is valiant whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall shrinke and faint: for all Israel knoweth, that thy father is valiant, and they which be with him, stout men.

¹¹ Therefore my counsell is, that all Israel be gathered vnto thee, from Dan euen to Beer-sheba as the sand of the sea in nomber, and that thou goe to battell in thine owne person.

¹² So shall we come vpon him in some place, where we shall finde him, and we will vpon him as the dewe falleth on the ground: and of all the men that are with him, wee will not leaue him one.

¹³ Moreouer if he be gotten into a citie, then shall all the men of Israel bring ropes to that citie, and we will draw it into the riuer, vntill there be not one small stone founde there.

¹⁴ 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 theThat counsel which seemed good at first to Absalom, (2Sa_17:4).good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD mightFor by the counsel of Hushai, he went to the battle, where he was destroyed.bring evil upon Absalom.

¹⁵ Then said Hushai vnto Zadok and to Abiathar the Priests, Of this and that maner did Ahithophel and the Elders of Israel counsell Absalom: and thus and thus haue I counseled.

¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily passThat is, over Jordan.over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that [are] with him.

¹⁷ Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and toldMeaning, the message from their fathers.them; and they went and told king David.

¹⁸ Neuerthelesse a yong man sawe them, and tolde it to Absalom. therefore they both departed quickely, and came to a mans house in Bahurim, who had a well in his court, into the which they went downe.

¹⁹ AndThus God sends help to his, in their greatest dangers.the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.

²⁰ 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 theThe Chaldee text reads: Now they have passed the Jordan.brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find [them], they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ 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: forThat is, to pursue you with all haste.thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.

²² Then David arose, and all the people that [were] with him, and they passed over Jordan:They travelled all night, and by morning had all their company passed over.by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.

²³ 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, andGod's just vengeance even in this life is poured on them who are enemies, traitors, or persecutors of his Church.hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

²⁴ Then Dauid came to Mahanaim; Absalom passed ouer Iorden, he, and all the men of Israel with him.

²⁵ And 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 ofWho was also called Jesse, David's father.Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother.

²⁶ So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ And when Dauid was come to Mahanaim, Shobi the sonne of Nahash out of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the sonne of Ammiel out of Lo-debar, and Barzelai the Gileadite out of Rogel

²⁸ God shows himself most liberal to his, when they seem to be utterly destitute.Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched [corn], and beans, and lentiles, and parched [pulse],

²⁹ And they brought honie, and butter, and sheepe, and cheese of kine for Dauid and for the people that were with him, to eate: for they said, The people is hungry, and wearie, and thirstie in the wildernesse.