⁵ So Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’ ”

²⁴ So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?”

And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!”

²⁵ Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

¹⁵ Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you ^[a]tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

²¹ And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s ^(A)concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you ^(B)are abhorred by your father. Then ^(C)the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” ²² So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines ^(D)in the sight of all Israel.

²³ Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel ^(E)both with David and with Absalom.

The Advice of Ahithophel and Hushai

17 Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. ² I will come upon him while he is ^(F)weary and weak, and make him ^[a]afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will ^(G)strike only the king. ³ Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace.” ⁴ And the saying pleased Absalom and all the ^(H)elders of Israel.