17:1
The Duel of Counsel and the Defeat of Ahithophel
Moreover Ahithophel said unto Abshalum, "Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after Dawid this night:"
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2 Shamu'al 17
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"And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:"
17:3
"And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace."
17:4
And the saying pleased Abshalum well, and all the elders of Yashar'al.
17:5
The Summoning of Hushai
Then said Abshalum, "Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith."
17:6
And when Hushai was come to Abshalum, Abshalum spake unto him, saying, "Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou."
17:7
The Counter-Counsel of Delay
And Hushai said unto Abshalum, "The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time."
17:8
"For," said Hushai, "thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people."
17:9
"Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Abshalum."
17:10
"And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Yashar'al knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men."
17:11
The Appeal to Carnal Vanity
"Therefore I counsel that all Yashar'al be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person."
17:12
"So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one."
17:13
"Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Yashar'al bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there."
17:14
The Celestial Override of the Matrix
And Abshalum and all the men of Yashar'al said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 might bring evil upon Abshalum.
17:15
The Intelligence Network Activated
Then said Hushai unto Tzadok and to Abiathar the priests, "Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Abshalum and the elders of Yashar'al; and thus and thus have I counseled."
17:16
"Now therefore send quickly, and tell Dawid, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him."
17:17
The Couriers at En-rogel
Now Yonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king Dawid.
17:18
The Evasion at Bahurim
Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Abshalum: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down.
17:19
And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.
17:20
And when Abshalum's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, "Where is Ahimaaz and Yonathan?" And the woman said unto them, "They be gone over the brook of water." And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Yarushalayim.
17:21
The Warning Delivered
And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king Dawid, and said unto Dawid, "Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counseled against you."
17:22
The Crossing of the Yardan
Then Dawid arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Yardan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Yardan.
17:23
The Suicide of Ahithophel
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.
17:24
The Encampment at Mahanaim
Then Dawid came to Mahanaim. And Abshalum passed over Yardan, he and all the men of Yashar'al with him.
17:25
The Appointment of Amasa
And Abshalum made Amasa captain of the host instead of Yoab: which Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Yithra an Yashar'alite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Yoab's mother.
17:26
So Yashar'al and Abshalum pitched in the land of Gilead.
17:27
The Unlikely Sustainers of the King
And it came to pass, when Dawid was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
17:28
Brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,
17:29
And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for Dawid, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, "The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness."