2 Samuel 17:15-29

English Standard Version

^15 (A)Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. ¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at ^(B)the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be ^(C)swallowed up.’” ¹⁷ Now ^(D)Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at ^(E)En-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city. ¹⁸ But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at ^(F)Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it. ^19 (G)And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. ²⁰ When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook^[a] of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, ^(H)“Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.” ²² Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to ^(I)his own city. He ^(J)set his house in order and ^(K)hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to ^(L)Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵ Now Absalom had set ^(M)Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite,^[b] who had married Abigal the daughter of ^(N)Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. ²⁶ And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, ^(O)Shobi the son of Nahash from ^(P)Rabbah of the Ammonites, and ^(Q)Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and ^(R)Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, ²⁸ brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils,^{[c] 29} honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and ^(S)weary and thirsty ^(T)in the wilderness.”