2 Samuel 17:15-20

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.