⁵ 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, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat and prepare the food in my sight, so that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’ ”

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” ²⁵ Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

¹⁵ Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.”^(A)

²¹ Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, the ones he has left to look after the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”^{(A) 22} So they pitched a tent for Absalom upon the roof, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.^{(B) 23} Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the oracle^[a] of God, so all the counsel of Ahithophel was esteemed both by David and by Absalom.^(C)

17 Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. ² I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king,^{(D) 3} and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man,^[b] and all the people will be at peace.” ⁴ The advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.