1And Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Let me choose, I pray, twelve thousand men (ish), and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.
2And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak of hands, 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 back all the people to you; as the returning of the whole is the man (ish) whom you seek, all the people will be at peace."
4And the matter was right 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 is in his mouth, also him."
6And Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him, saying, "According to this word Ahithophel has spoken; shall we do his word? If not, you speak."
7And Hushai said to Absalom, "The counsel that Ahithophel counseled this time is not good."
8And Hushai said, "You know your father and his men (ish), that they are mighty men, and they are bitter of soul (nephesh), like a bear bereaved in the field; and your father is a man (ish) of war, and 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, when some fall among them at the first, that whoever hears will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.
10And even he who is a son of valor, whose heart is as the heart of the 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.
11But I counsel that all Israel be surely gathered to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and your face going into the battle.
12And we will come upon him in one of the places where he is found, and we will light upon him as the dew falls upon the ground (adamah); and there will not be left of him and of all the men (ish) who are with him even one.
13And if he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it to the brook until there is not found there even a small stone.
14And Absalom and all the men (ish) of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For YHWH had commanded (tzivvah) to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that YHWH might bring upon Absalom the evil.
15And Hushai said to Zadok and to 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 tell David, saying, Do not lodge tonight in the plains of the wilderness, but surely pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him."
17And Jonathan and Ahimaaz were standing at En-rogel, and the maidservant would go and tell them, and they would go and tell king David; for they could not be seen to come into the city.
18But a lad saw them and told Absalom; and the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man (ish) in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there.
19And the woman (ishah) took and spread the covering over the face of the well, and strewed groats upon it; and nothing was known.
20And the servants of Absalom came to the woman (ishah) to the house, and they said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And the woman (ishah) said to them, "They passed over the brook of water." And they sought and did not find them, and they returned to Jerusalem.
21And it came to pass, after they departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, "Arise and pass over quickly the water, for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you."
22And David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan; by the light of the morning there lacked not one who had not passed over 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 commanded (tzivvah) his house, and strangled himself, and died, and was buried in the grave of his father.
24And David came to Mahanaim; and Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men (ish) of Israel with him.
25And Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab; and Amasa was the son of a man (ish) whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.
26And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
27And it came to pass, when David came to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,
28brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched grain, and beans, and lentils, and parched grain,
29and honey, and curd, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, brought to David and to the people who were with him to eat; for they said, "The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."