⁹ Even now, he is hidden in a cave or some other place.^(A) If he should attack your troops first,^[a] whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰ Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like the heart of a lion,^(B) will melt^(C) with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a fighter and that those with him are brave.^(D)

¹¹ “So I advise you: Let all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba^(E)—as numerous as the sand^(F) on the seashore—be gathered to you, with you yourself leading them into battle.