2 Samuel 15:30-17:23

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

³⁰ And David went up over the Mount of Olives and wept as he went, barefoot and his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, weeping as they went.

³¹ David was told, Ahithophel [your counselor] is among the conspirators with Absalom. David said, O Lord, I pray You, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.

³² When David came to the summit [of Olivet], where he worshiped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent and earth upon his head.

³³ David said to him, If you go with me, you will be a burden to me.

³⁴ But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in the past, so will I be your servant now, then you may defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.

³⁵ Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be with you? So whatever you hear from the king’s house, just tell it to [them].

³⁶ Behold, their two sons are there with them, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son; and by them send to me everything you hear.

³⁷ So Hushai, David’s friend, returned, and Absalom also came into Jerusalem.

16 When David was a little past the top [of Olivet], behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and upon them 200 loaves of bread, 100 bunches of raisins, 100 summer fruits, and a skin of wine.

² The king said to Ziba, What do you mean by these? Ziba said, The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine is for those to drink who become faint in the wilderness.

³ The king said, And where is your master’s son [grandson Mephibosheth]? Ziba said to the king, Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father [grandfather Saul].

⁴ Then the king said to Ziba, Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours. Ziba said, I do obeisance; let me ever find favor in your sight, my lord O king.

⁵ When King David came to Bahurim, a man of the family of the house of Saul, Shimei son of Gera, came out and cursed continually as he came.

⁶ And he cast stones at David and at all the servants of King David; and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

⁷ Shimei said as he cursed, Get out, get out, you man of blood, you base fellow!

⁸ The Lord has avenged upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead you have reigned; and the Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hands of Absalom your son. Behold, the calamity is upon you because you are a bloody man!

⁹ Then said [David’s nephew] Abishai son of Zeruiah to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.

¹⁰ The king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord said to him, Curse David, who then shall ask, Why have you done so?

¹¹ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who was born to me, seeks my life. With how much more reason now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone; and let him curse, for the Lord has bidden him to do it.

¹² It may be that the Lord will look on the iniquity done me and will recompense me with good for his cursing this day.

¹³ So David and his men went by the road, and Shimei went along on the hillside opposite David and cursed as he went and threw stones and dust at him.

¹⁴ And the king and all the people who were with him came [to the Jordan] weary, and he refreshed himself there.

¹⁵ And Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.

¹⁶ And when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to [him], Long live the king! Long live the king!

¹⁷ Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your kindness and loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?

¹⁸ Hushai said to Absalom, No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel choose, his will I be, and with him I will remain.

¹⁹ And again, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so will I serve you.

²⁰ Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your counsel. What shall we do?

²¹ And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father’s concubines whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be made strong.

²² So they spread for Absalom a tent on the top of the [king’s] house, and Absalom went in to his father’s harem in the sight of all Israel.

²³ And the counsel of Ahithophel in those days was as if a man had consulted the word of God; so was all Ahithophel’s counsel considered both by David and by Absalom.

17 Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me choose 12,000 men and I will set out and pursue David this night.

² I will come upon him while he is exhausted and weak, and cause him to panic; all the people with him will flee. Then I will strike down the king alone.

³ I will bring back all the people to you. [The removal of] the man whom you seek is the assurance that all will return; and all the people will be at peace.

⁴ And what he said pleased Absalom well and all the elders of Israel.

⁵ Absalom said, Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he says.

⁶ When Hushai came, Absalom said to him, Ahithophel has counseled thus. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up.

⁷ And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.

⁸ For, said Hushai, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are embittered and enraged like a bear robbed of her whelps in the field. And your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

⁹ Behold, he is hidden even now in some pit or other place; and when some of them are overthrown at the first, whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the followers of Absalom.

¹⁰ And even he who is brave, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and that those who are with him are brave men.

¹¹ Therefore I counsel that all [the men of] Israel be gathered to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in your own person.

¹² So shall we come upon [David] some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew settles [unseen and unheard] on the ground; and of him and of all the men with him there shall not be left so much as one.

¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the ravine until not one pebble is left there.

¹⁴ Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel. For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

¹⁵ Then said Hushai to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus have I counseled.

¹⁶ Now send quickly and tell David, Lodge not this night at the fords [at the Jordan] of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up and all the people with him.

¹⁷ Now [the youths] Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed at En-rogel, for they must not be seen coming into the city. But a maidservant went and told them, and they went and told King David.

¹⁸ But a lad saw them and told Absalom; but they left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court, and they went down into it.

¹⁹ And the woman spread a covering over the well’s mouth and spread ground corn on it; and the thing was not discovered.

²⁰ For 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 went over the brook of water. When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ After they had departed, the boys came up out of the well and went and told King David, and said, Arise and pass quickly over the river Jordan; for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.

²² David arose and all the people with him and passed over the Jordan. By daybreak, not one was left who had not crossed.

²³ But when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, went home to his city, put his household in order, and hanged himself and died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.