CHAPTER 17
1 Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, I shall choose to me twelve thousand of men, and I shall rise up, and pursue David in this night.
2 And I shall fall on him, for he is weary, and with unbound hands I shall smite him. And when all the people fleeth that is with him, I shall smite the king left alone.
3 And I shall lead again all the people, as one man is wont to be turned again; for thou seekest one man, and all the people shall be in peace.
4 And the words of Ahithophel pleased Absalom, and all the greater men in birth of Israel.
5 And Absalom said, Call ye also Hushai of Archi, and hear we what also he saith.
6 And when Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to him, Ahith-ophel hath spoken such a word; owe we to do thereafter, either nay? what counsel givest thou?
7 And Hushai said to Absalom, This is not good counsel, that Ahith-ophel hath given in this time.
8 And again Hushai said, Thou knowest, that thy father, and the men that be with him, be most strong, and in bitter soul, as if a she bear is fierce in the forest, when her whelps be ravished from her; but also thy father is a man warrior, and he shall not dwell with the people.
9 In hap now he is hid, either lurketh, in ditches, either in one place, in which he will hide him; and when any man falleth in the beginning, whoever shall hear it, he shall hear, and shall say, Vengeance is done in the people that pursued Absalom.
10 And each full strong man, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall be discomforted for dread; for all the people of Israel knoweth, that thy father is strong, and that all the men be strong, that be with him.
11 But this seemeth to me to be rightful [or right] counsel; all Israel be gathered to thee, from Dan till to Beersheba, unnumberable as the sand of the sea; and thou shalt be in the midst of them.
12 And we shall fall upon him, in whatever place he is found, and we shall cover him, as dew is wont to fall on the earth; and we shall not leave of the men that be with him, soothly not one.
13 That if he entereth into any city, all Israel shall compass that city with ropes, and we shall draw it into the strand [or stream], yea that nothing be found, soothly not a little stone thereof.
14 And Absalom said, and all the men of Israel, The counsel of Hushai of Archi is better than the counsel of Ahithophel; and the profitable counsel of Ahithophel was destroyed by God’s will, that the Lord should bring in evil on Absalom.
15 And Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests, Ahithophel gave counsel to Absalom, and to the elder men of Israel in this and this manner, and I gave such and such counsel.
16 Now therefore send ye soon, and tell ye to David, and say ye, Dwell thou not this night in [the] field places of the desert, but pass thou [over] without delay; lest peradventure the king be swallowed up, and all the people that is with him.
17 And Jonathan and Ahimaaz stood beside the well of Rogel; and an handmaid went, and told to them, and they went forth to tell the message to king David; for they might not be seen, neither enter into the city.
18 And a child saw them, and he showed it to Absalom; and they entered with swift going into the house of a man in Bahurim, that had a pit or well in his place, and they went down into that pit.
19 And a woman took, and spread abroad a covering over the mouth of the pit, as if drying barley with the peel taken away, and so the thing was hid.
20 And when the servants of Absalom had come into the house, they said to the woman, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman answered to them, They passed the river of waters, that is, Jordan. And when they that sought them had not found them, they turned again into Jerusalem.
21 And when they had gone forth, they went up from the pit; and they went, and told to king David, and said, Rise ye up, and passeth soon [over] the flood, for Ahithophel hath given such counsel against you.
22 Therefore David rose up, and all the people that was with him, and they passed over Jordan, till it was clear day, before that the word was published; and soothly not one was left, that passed not over the flood.
23 And Ahithophel saw, that his counsel was not done, and he saddled his ass, and rose up, and went into his house, and into his city; and when his house was disposed, he perished by hanging himself, and he was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
24 And David came into the castles, and Absalom passed [over] Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
25 And Absalom ordained Amasa for Joab upon his host; and Amasa was the son of a man that was called Ithra of Jezreel, the which entered to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, and the sister of Zeruiah, that was the mother of Joab.
26 And Israel setted tents with Absalom in the land of Gilead.
27 And when David had come into the castles or Mahanaim, Shobi, the son of Nahash of Rabbah, of the sons of Ammon, and Machir, the son of Ammiel, of Lodebar, and Barzillai, of Gilead, of Rogelim,
28 brought to him beddings, and tapets, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and flour, and beans, and lentils or vetches, and fried chickpeas,
29 and honey, and butter, and sheep, and fat calves. And they gave those to David, and to the people that were with him, to eat; for they supposed the people to be made faint for hunger and thirst in desert.