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2 Samuel 17:1-29 — Ahithophel and Hushai

2Sam.17.1-29

¹Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out tonight in pursuit of David.” ²I will come upon him while he is weary and exhausted, and I will throw him into panic. All the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike down the king alone. ³I will bring back all the people to you. As all return when the man you seek is gone, all the people will be at peace." ⁴This proposal seemed right to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel. ⁵But Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he too has to say.” ⁶So Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “Ahithophel has spoken in this way. Should we do what he says? If not, then speak.” ⁷Hushai said to Absalom, “The advice Ahithophel has given this time is not good.” ⁸Hushai said further, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war and will not spend the night with the troops. ⁹Even now he is hidden in one of the pits or in some other place. And when some of your men fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, 'There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.' ¹⁰Then even the valiant man whose heart is like a lion's heart will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that your father is mighty and that the men with him are valiant. ¹¹Instead, I advise that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as numerous as the sand by the sea, and that you yourself go into battle. ¹²Then we will come upon him in one of the places where he is found, and we will fall on him as dew falls on the ground. Of him and of all the men with him, not even one will remain. ¹³And if he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it to the ravine until not even a pebble is found there." ¹⁴Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring disaster upon Absalom. ¹⁵Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I advised.” ¹⁶Now send quickly and tell David, 'Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but be sure to cross over, lest the king and all the people with him be swallowed up.' ¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel. A servant girl would go and tell them, and they would go and report it to King David, because they could not be seen entering the city. ¹⁸But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. ¹⁹Then the woman took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered crushed grain over it, so nothing was known. ²⁰Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have crossed over the stream.” So they searched and did not find them, and they returned to Jerusalem. ²¹After they had gone, the two men came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, “Rise up and cross the water quickly, for this is what Ahithophel has advised against you.” ²²Then David rose up, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By the morning light, not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan. ²³When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and rose and went home to his own city. He gave instructions to his household, and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father's tomb. ²⁴Then David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵Absalom appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite , who had gone in to Abigail daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. ²⁶And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. ²⁷When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim ²⁸brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, and more roasted grain, ²⁹along with honey, curds , animals from the flock, and cheese from the herd, and they presented these to David and to the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”

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4/11/2026

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