Hushai Counters Ahithophel’s Advice

1And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose now twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. 2And I will come upon him, and he is weary and weak handed, and I will cause him to tremble, and all the people will flee who are with him. And I will strike the king by himself, 3and bring back all the people to you.† At the returning of all except the man whom you are seeking, all the people will be at peace.”

4And the saying was good in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.

5And Absalom said, “Call now also Hushai the Archite, and let us hear what he says too.”

6And Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him, saying, “In this manner Ahithophel has spoken. Shall we do as he says? If not, you yourself speak up.”

7And Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel is not good that Ahithophel has counseled at this time.”

8And Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are bitter of spirit, like a bereaved bear in the field. And your father is a man of war, and he will not spend the night with the people. 9Behold now, he is hidden in one of the pits, or in one of the places. And it will come to pass, when some fall among them at the first,† that the hearer will hear and say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ 10And even he also, the son of valor whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are sons of valor.

11Therefore I counsel that all Israel be diligently gathered to you, from Dan and to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and your face will be walking in the battle. 12And we will come upon him in one of the places where he may be found, and we will be on him as the dew falls on the ground, and there shall not be left of him and all the men who are with him even one.

13And if he withdraws into a city, all Israel shall bring to that city ropes, and we will pull it into the river until that there is not found there even a pebble.”

14And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For YHWH had purposed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, for the sake of YHWH bringing on Absalom disaster.

Hushai’s Warning Saves David
(Psalm 55:1–23)

15And Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and thus Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus I have counseled. 16And now send quickly and declare to David, saying, ‘Do not spend the night in the plains of the wilderness, and also surely pass over, lest the king be swallowed up and all the people who are with him.’”

17And Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel; and the maidservant would come and tell them, and they would go and tell King David. For they dared not to be seen coming into the city. 18And a boy saw them and told Absalom; and the two of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, and unto him was a well in his court, and they went down into it. 19And the woman took and spread a screen over the face of the well, and she spread over it grain, and the thing was known not.

20And the servants of Absalom came to the woman at 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 they searched and did not find, and they turned back to Jerusalem.

21And it came to pass, after they had departed, that they came up out of the well, and they went and told King David, and they said to David, “Arise and pass over the waters quickly, for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you⁺.”

22And David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan until the light of the morning; not even one of them was left who had not gone over the Jordan.

23And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, and he saddled a donkey and arose and went home to his house, to his city, and he put in order unto his house, and hanged himself, and he died, and he was buried in the tomb of his father.

24And David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom passed over the Jordan—he and all the men of Israel with him. 25And Absalom had appointed Amasa instead of Joab Captain of the army. And Amasa was son of a man, and his name was Ithra† the Ishmaelite,† who had gone in to Abigail† the daughter of Nahash,† sister of Zeruiah, mother of Joab. 26And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

27And it came to pass, when David had come to Mahanaim, that Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 28beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched, and beans, and lentils,† 29and honey, and curds, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, they brought near for David and the people who were with him to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”

Footnotes:

3 LXX; see also DSS; MT and I will bring back all the people to you.
9 Or If he should attack your troops first
25 Ithra is a variant of Jether; see 1 Kings 2:5.
25 Some LXX manuscripts (see also 1 Chronicles 2:17); MT and other LXX manuscripts Israelite
25 Or Abigal, a variant of Abigail
25 Or of Jesse; see DSS and 1 Chronicles 2:13–16
28 Most LXX manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew includes and roasted grain.