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.
Notas al pie
- 2 Samuel 16:15 tn Heb “and all the people, the men of Israel.”
- 2 Samuel 16:16 tn Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- 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.
- 2 Samuel 16:19 tn Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”
- 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.
- 2 Samuel 16:21 tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
- 2 Samuel 16:22 sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.
- 2 Samuel 16:22 tn Heb “approached.” See note at v. 21.
- 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.”
- 2 Samuel 16:23 tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”
- 2 Samuel 17:2 tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”
- 2 Samuel 17:2 tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”
- 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.
- 2 Samuel 17:3 tn Heb “all of the people will be safe.”
- 2 Samuel 17:4 tn Heb “elders.”
- 2 Samuel 17:5 tc In the MT the verb is singular, but in the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate it is plural.
- 2 Samuel 17:5 tn Heb “what is in his mouth.”
- 2 Samuel 17:7 tn Heb “Not good is the advice which Ahithophel has advised at this time.”
- 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.”
- 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].”
- 2 Samuel 17:14 tn Heb “commanded.”
- 2 Samuel 17:15 tn Heb “elders.”
- 2 Samuel 17:16 tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”
- 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”).
- 2 Samuel 17:16 tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”
- 2 Samuel 17:16 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
- 2 Samuel 17:20 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 2 Samuel 17:21 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 2 Samuel 17:21 tn Heb “the water.”
- 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.
- 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.
- 2 Samuel 17:23 tc The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”
2 Samuel 16:15-17:23
New Living Translation
Ahithophel Advises Absalom
15 Meanwhile, Absalom and all the army of Israel arrived at Jerusalem, accompanied by Ahithophel. 16 When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite arrived, he went immediately to see Absalom. “Long live the king!” he exclaimed. “Long live the king!”
17 “Is this the way you treat your friend David?” Absalom asked him. “Why aren’t you with him?”
18 “I’m here because I belong to the man who is chosen by the Lord and by all the men of Israel,” Hushai replied. 19 “And anyway, why shouldn’t I serve you? Just as I was your father’s adviser, now I will be your adviser!”
20 Then Absalom turned to Ahithophel and asked him, “What should I do next?”
21 Ahithophel told him, “Go and sleep with your father’s concubines, for he has left them here to look after the palace. Then all Israel will know that you have insulted your father beyond hope of reconciliation, and they will throw their support to you.” 22 So they set up a tent on the palace roof where everyone could see it, and Absalom went in and had sex with his father’s concubines.
23 Absalom followed Ahithophel’s advice, just as David had done. For every word Ahithophel spoke seemed as wise as though it had come directly from the mouth of God.
17 Now Ahithophel urged Absalom, “Let me choose 12,000 men to start out after David tonight. 2 I will catch up with him while he is weary and discouraged. He and his troops will panic, and everyone will run away. Then I will kill only the king, 3 and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride returns to her husband. After all, it is only one man’s life that you seek.[a] Then you will be at peace with all the people.” 4 This plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.
Hushai Counters Ahithophel’s Advice
5 But then Absalom said, “Bring in Hushai the Arkite. Let’s see what he thinks about this.” 6 When Hushai arrived, Absalom told him what Ahithophel had said. Then he asked, “What is your opinion? Should we follow Ahithophel’s advice? If not, what do you suggest?”
7 “Well,” Hushai replied to Absalom, “this time Ahithophel has made a mistake. 8 You know your father and his men; they are mighty warriors. Right now they are as enraged as a mother bear who has been robbed of her cubs. And remember that your father is an experienced man of war. He won’t be spending the night among the troops. 9 He has probably already hidden in some pit or cave. And when he comes out and attacks and a few of your men fall, there will be panic among your troops, and the word will spread that Absalom’s men are being slaughtered. 10 Then even the bravest soldiers, though they have the heart of a lion, will be paralyzed with fear. For all Israel knows what a mighty warrior your father is and how courageous his men are.
11 “I recommend that you mobilize the entire army of Israel, bringing them from as far away as Dan in the north and Beersheba in the south. That way you will have an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. And I advise that you personally lead the troops. 12 When we find David, we’ll fall on him like dew that falls on the ground. Then neither he nor any of his men will be left alive. 13 And if David were to escape into some town, you will have all Israel there at your command. Then we can take ropes and drag the walls of the town into the nearest valley until every stone is torn down.”
14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “Hushai’s advice is better than Ahithophel’s.” For the Lord had determined to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, which really was the better plan, so that he could bring disaster on Absalom!
Hushai Warns David to Escape
15 Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, what Ahithophel had said to Absalom and the elders of Israel and what he himself had advised instead. 16 “Quick!” he told them. “Find David and urge him not to stay at the shallows of the Jordan River[b] tonight. He must go across at once into the wilderness beyond. Otherwise he will die and his entire army with him.”
17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz had been staying at En-rogel so as not to be seen entering and leaving the city. Arrangements had been made for a servant girl to bring them the message they were to take to King David. 18 But a boy spotted them at En-rogel, and he told Absalom about it. So they quickly escaped to Bahurim, where a man hid them down inside a well in his courtyard. 19 The man’s wife put a cloth over the top of the well and scattered grain on it to dry in the sun; so no one suspected they were there.
20 When Absalom’s men arrived, they asked her, “Have you seen Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
The woman replied, “They were here, but they crossed over the brook.” Absalom’s men looked for them without success and returned to Jerusalem.
21 Then the two men crawled out of the well and hurried on to King David. “Quick!” they told him, “cross the Jordan tonight!” And they told him how Ahithophel had advised that he be captured and killed. 22 So David and all the people with him went across the Jordan River during the night, and they were all on the other bank before dawn.
23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey, went to his hometown, set his affairs in order, and hanged himself. He died there and was buried in the family tomb.
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