The Daily Audio Bible

Hushai Misleads Absalom

17 Not long after that, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and tonight I will set out after David. ² I will attack him while he is tired and discouraged. He will be frightened, and all his men will run away. I will kill only the king ³ and then bring back all his men to you, like a bride returning to her husband. You want to kill only one man;^[a] the rest of the people will be safe.” ⁴ This seemed like good advice to Absalom and all the Israelite leaders.

⁵ Absalom said, “Now call Hushai, and let us hear what he has to say.” ⁶ When Hushai arrived, Absalom said to him, “This is the advice that Ahithophel has given us; shall we follow it? If not, you tell us what to do.”

⁷ Hushai answered, “The advice Ahithophel gave you this time is no good. ⁸ You know that your father David and his men are hard fighters and that they are as fierce as a mother bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier and does not stay with his men at night. ⁹ Right now he is probably hiding in a cave or some other place. As soon as David attacks your men, whoever hears about it will say that your men have been defeated. ¹⁰ Then even the bravest men, as fearless as lions, will be afraid because everyone in Israel knows that your father is a great soldier and that his men are hard fighters. ¹¹ My advice is that you bring all the Israelites together from one end of the country to the other, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore, and that you lead them personally in battle. ¹² We will find David wherever he is, and attack him before he knows what's happening. Neither he nor any of his men will survive. ¹³ If he retreats into a city, our people will all bring ropes and just pull the city^[b] into the valley below. Not a single stone will be left there on top of the hill.”

¹⁴ Absalom and all the Israelites said, “Hushai's advice is better than Ahithophel's.” The Lord had decided that Ahithophel's good advice would not be followed, so that disaster would come on Absalom.

David Is Warned and Escapes

¹⁵ Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar what advice he had given to Absalom and the Israelite leaders and what advice Ahithophel had given. ¹⁶ Hushai added, “Quick, now! Send a message to David not to spend the night at the river crossings in the wilderness, but to cross the Jordan at once, so that he and his men won't all be caught and killed.”

¹⁷ Abiathar's son Jonathan and Zadok's son Ahimaaz were waiting at the spring of Enrogel, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, because they did not dare be seen entering the city. A servant woman would regularly go and tell them what was happening, and then they would go and tell King David. ¹⁸ But one day a boy happened to see them, and he told Absalom; so they hurried off to hide in the house of a certain man in Bahurim. He had a well near his house, and they got down in it. ¹⁹ The man's wife took a covering, spread it over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it, so that no one would notice anything. ²⁰ Absalom's officials came to the house and asked the woman, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

“They crossed the river,” she answered.

The men looked for them but could not find them, and so they returned to Jerusalem. ²¹ After they left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan came up out of the well and went and reported to King David. They told him what Ahithophel had planned against him and said, “Hurry up and cross the river.” ²² So David and his men started crossing the Jordan, and by daybreak they had all gone across.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and went back to his hometown. After putting his affairs in order, he hanged himself. He was buried in the family grave.

²⁴ David had reached the town of Mahanaim by the time Absalom and the Israelites had crossed the Jordan. (²⁵ Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army in the place of Joab. Amasa was the son of Jether the Ishmaelite;^[c] his mother was Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and the sister of Joab's mother Zeruiah.) ²⁶ Absalom and his men camped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ When David arrived at Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash, from the city of Rabbah in Ammon, and by Machir son of Ammiel, from Lodebar, and by Barzillai, from Rogelim in Gilead. ^28-29 They brought bowls, clay pots, and bedding, and also food for David and his men: wheat, barley, meal, roasted grain, beans, peas,^[d] honey, cheese, cream, and some sheep. They knew that David and his men would get hungry, thirsty, and tired in the wilderness.

²³ After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took the robe, which was made of one piece of woven cloth without any seams in it. ^24 (A)The soldiers said to one another, “Let's not tear it; let's throw dice to see who will get it.” This happened in order to make the scripture come true:

And this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵ Standing close to Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, “He is your son.”

²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “She is your mother.” From that time the disciple took her to live in his home.

The Death of Jesus^(B)

^28 (C)Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true, he said, “I am thirsty.”

²⁹ A bowl was there, full of cheap wine; so a sponge was soaked in the wine, put on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted up to his lips. ³⁰ Jesus drank the wine and said, “It is finished!”

Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus' Side Is Pierced

³¹ Then the Jewish authorities asked Pilate to allow them to break the legs of the men who had been crucified, and to take the bodies down from the crosses. They requested this because it was Friday, and they did not want the bodies to stay on the crosses on the Sabbath, since the coming Sabbath was especially holy. ³² So the soldiers went and broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus. ³³ But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. ³⁴ One of the soldiers, however, plunged his spear into Jesus' side, and at once blood and water poured out. (³⁵ The one who saw this happen has spoken of it, so that you also may believe.^[a] What he said is true, and he knows that he speaks the truth.) ^36 (D)This was done to make the scripture come true: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” ^37 (E)And there is another scripture that says, “People will look at him whom they pierced.”

The Burial of Jesus^(F)

³⁸ After this, Joseph, who was from the town of Arimathea, asked Pilate if he could take Jesus' body. (Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but in secret, because he was afraid of the Jewish authorities.) Pilate told him he could have the body, so Joseph went and took it away. ^39 (G)Nicodemus, who at first had gone to see Jesus at night, went with Joseph, taking with him about one hundred pounds of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes. ⁴⁰ The two men took Jesus' body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices according to the Jewish custom of preparing a body for burial. ⁴¹ There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been put to death, and in it there was a new tomb where no one had ever been buried. ⁴² Since it was the day before the Sabbath and because the tomb was close by, they placed Jesus' body there.

Desire to Obey the Law of the Lord

The Justice of the Law of the Lord

A Prayer for Deliverance

¹² Kings cannot tolerate evil,^[a] because justice is what makes a government strong.

¹³ A king wants to hear the truth and will favor those who speak it.