Hushai’s Counsel

17 Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. ^2 (A)I will come upon him while he is weary and ^[a]exhausted and terrify him, so that all the people who are with him will flee. Then ^(B)I will strike down the king alone, ³ and I will bring back all the people to you. ^[b]The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at ^(C)peace.” ⁴ So the ^[c]plan pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

⁵ Then Absalom said, “Now call ^(D)Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what ^[d]he has to say.” ⁶ When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to ^[e]him, “Ahithophel has spoken ^[f]thus. Shall we ^[g]carry out his plan? If not, you speak.” ⁷ So Hushai said to Absalom, “^(E)This time the advice that Ahithophel has ^[h]given is not good.” ⁸ Moreover, Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are ^[i]fierce, ^(F)like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is an ^[j]expert in warfare, and will not spend the night with the people. ⁹ Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of the ^[k]caves or in another place; and it will be ^[l]when he falls on them at the first attack, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰ And even the one who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, ^(G)will completely ^[m]lose heart; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men. ¹¹ But I counsel that all Israel be surely gathered to you, ^(H)from Dan even to Beersheba, ^(I)as the sand that is by the sea in abundance, and that ^[n]you personally go into battle. ¹² So we shall come to him in one of the places where he can be found, and we will ^[o]fall on him ^(J)as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be left. ¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will ^(K)drag it into the ^[p]valley until not even a small stone is found there.” ¹⁴ Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For ^(L)the Lord had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring calamity on Absalom.

Hushai’s Warning Saves David

¹⁵ Then ^(M)Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “^[q]This is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and ^[r]this is what I have counseled. ¹⁶ Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘^(N)Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over, or else the king and all the people who are with him will be ^[s]destroyed.’” ^17 (O)Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at ^(P)En-rogel, and a maidservant would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city. ¹⁸ But a lad did see them and told Absalom; so the two of them departed quickly and came to the house of a man ^(Q)in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down ^[t]into it. ¹⁹ And ^(R)the woman ^[u]took a covering and spread it over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, so that nothing was known. ²⁰ Then Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And ^(S)the woman said to them, “They have crossed the brook of water.” And when they searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ It came about after they had departed that they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David, “^(T)Arise and cross over the water quickly for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you.” ²² Then David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed the Jordan; and by ^[v]dawn not even one remained who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³ Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not ^[w]followed, he ^[x]saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to ^(U)his city, and ^[y](V)set his house in order, and ^(W)strangled himself; thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to ^(X)Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵ Absalom set ^(Y)Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was ^[z]Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of ^(Z)Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ²⁶ And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi ^(AA)the son of Nahash from ^(AB)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, ^(AC)Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and ^(AD)Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, ²⁸ brought ^(AE)beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched seeds, ²⁹ honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him, ^(AF)to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”

“Difficult Times Will Come”

3 But realize this, that ^(A)in the last days difficult times will come. ² For men will be ^(B)lovers of self, ^(C)lovers of money, ^(D)boastful, ^(E)arrogant, ^(F)revilers, ^(G)disobedient to parents, ^(H)ungrateful, ^(I)unholy, ^3 (J)unloving, irreconcilable, ^(K)malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, ^[a](L)haters of good, ^4 (M)treacherous, ^(N)reckless, ^(O)conceited, ^(P)lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of ^[b](Q)godliness, although they have ^(R)denied its power; ^(S)Avoid such men as these. ⁶ For among them are those who ^[c](T)enter into households and captivate ^[d](U)weak women weighed down with sins, led on by ^(V)various impulses, ⁷ always learning and never able to ^(W)come to the ^[e]knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as ^(X)Jannes and Jambres ^(Y)opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, ^(Z)men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. ⁹ But they will not make further progress; for their ^(AA)folly will be obvious to all, just ^(AB)as ^[f]Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

¹⁰ Now you ^(AC)followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, ^(AD)love, ^[g]perseverance, ^11 (AE)persecutions, and ^(AF)sufferings, such as happened to me at ^(AG)Antioch, at ^(AH)Iconium and at ^(AI)Lystra; what ^(AJ)persecutions I endured, and out of them all ^(AK)the Lord rescued me! ¹² Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus ^(AL)will be persecuted. ¹³ But evil men and impostors ^(AM)will proceed from bad to worse, ^(AN)deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ You, however, ^(AO)continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that ^(AP)from childhood you have known ^(AQ)the sacred writings which are able to ^(AR)give you the wisdom that leads to ^(AS)salvation through faith which is in ^(AT)Christ Jesus. ^16 (AU)All Scripture is ^[h]inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for ^[i]training in righteousness; ¹⁷ so that ^(AV)the man of God may be adequate, ^(AW)equipped for every good work.