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2 Samuel 16:15-17:23
New English Translation

The Advice of Ahithophel

15 Now when Absalom and all the men[a] of Israel arrived in Jerusalem, Ahithophel was with him. 16 When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him,[b] “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” 18 Hushai replied to Absalom, “No, I will be loyal to the one whom the Lord, these people, and all the men of Israel have chosen.[c] 19 Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.”[d]

20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?” 21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Sleep with[e] your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.”[f] 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof,[g] and Absalom slept with[h] his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

23 In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation.[i] Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel.[j]

The Death of Ahithophel

17 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out 12,000 men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. 2 When I catch up with[k] him he will be exhausted and worn out.[l] I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king 3 and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone.[m] The entire army will return unharmed.”[n]

4 This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders[o] of Israel. 5 But Absalom said, “Call for[p] Hushai the Arkite, and let’s hear what he has to say.”[q] 6 So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?”

7 Hushai replied to Absalom, “Ahithophel’s advice is not sound this time.”[r] 8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men—they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs.[s] Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army. 9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first,[t] whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’ 10 If that happens even the bravest soldier—one who is lion-hearted—will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave. 11 My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba—in number like the sand by the sea—be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle. 12 We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive—not one of them! 13 If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”

14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided[u] to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

15 Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders[v] of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised. 16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him,[w] “Don’t spend the night at the fords[x] of the wilderness tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over,[y] or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.”[z]

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city. 18 But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it. 19 His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done.

20 When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men[aa] searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan[ab] climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream[ac] quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.”[ad] 22 So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River.[ae] By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave[af] of his father.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 16:15 tn Heb “and all the people, the men of Israel.”
  2. 2 Samuel 16:16 tn Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  3. 2 Samuel 16:18 tn Heb “No for with the one whom the Lord has chosen, and this people, and all the men of Israel, I will be and with him I will stay.” The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוֹ (lo, “[I will be] to him”) rather than the MT לֹא (loʾ, “[I will] not be”), which makes very little sense here.
  4. 2 Samuel 16:19 tn Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”
  5. 2 Samuel 16:21 tn Heb “approach,” The verb בּוֹא (boʾ) with the preposition אֶל (ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
  6. 2 Samuel 16:21 tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
  7. 2 Samuel 16:22 sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.
  8. 2 Samuel 16:22 tn Heb “approached.” See note at v. 21.
  9. 2 Samuel 16:23 tn Heb “And the advice of Ahithophel which he advised in those days was as when one inquires of the word of God.”
  10. 2 Samuel 16:23 tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”
  11. 2 Samuel 17:2 tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”
  12. 2 Samuel 17:2 tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”
  13. 2 Samuel 17:3 tc Heb “like the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking.” The LXX reads differently: “And I will return all the people to you the way a bride returns to her husband, except for the life of the one man whom you are seeking.” The other early versions also struggled with this verse. Modern translations are divided as well: the NAB, NRSV, REB, and NLT follow the LXX, while the NASB and NIV follow the Hebrew text.
  14. 2 Samuel 17:3 tn Heb “all of the people will be safe.”
  15. 2 Samuel 17:4 tn Heb “elders.”
  16. 2 Samuel 17:5 tc In the MT the verb is singular, but in the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate it is plural.
  17. 2 Samuel 17:5 tn Heb “what is in his mouth.”
  18. 2 Samuel 17:7 tn Heb “Not good is the advice which Ahithophel has advised at this time.”
  19. 2 Samuel 17:8 tc The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”
  20. 2 Samuel 17:9 tn Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”
  21. 2 Samuel 17:14 tn Heb “commanded.”
  22. 2 Samuel 17:15 tn Heb “elders.”
  23. 2 Samuel 17:16 tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”
  24. 2 Samuel 17:16 tc The MT reads “the rift valleys (עֲרָבוֹת, ʿaravot) of the wilderness.” The plural form typically refers to the gently sloping plains at the basin of the rift valley just north of the Dead Sea (while the larger rift valley extends from Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba). Many translations render as the “fords” (NASB, ESV, NIV, NRSV) assuming the reversal of two letters as עֲבָרוֹת (ʿavarot, “fords, crossing”).
  25. 2 Samuel 17:16 tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”
  26. 2 Samuel 17:16 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
  27. 2 Samuel 17:20 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
  28. 2 Samuel 17:21 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
  29. 2 Samuel 17:21 tn Heb “the water.”
  30. 2 Samuel 17:21 tn Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.
  31. 2 Samuel 17:22 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  32. 2 Samuel 17:23 tc The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”
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