2 Samuel 17

And Achitophel said to Abessalom, Let me now choose out for myself twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David by night.

And I will come upon him while he is weary and slack of hands, and I will throw him into terror; and all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike down the king alone.

And I will bring back all the people to you, in the manner that a bride returns to her husband; only the life of one man do you seek, and all the people shall have peace.

And the word was right in the eyes of Abessalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.

And Abessalom said, Call now Chousi the Arachite also, and let us hear what is in his mouth, his also.

And Chousi came in to Abessalom, and Abessalom spoke to him, saying, According to this word Achitophel has spoken; shall we do according to his word? But if not, you speak.

And Chousi said to Abessalom, This counsel which Achitophel has counselled is not good this once.

And Chousi said, You know your father and his men, that they are exceedingly mighty and bitter in their soul, like a bear bereaved of her young in the field, and like a savage sow in the plain; and your father is a man of war, and he will not let the people lodge.

For behold, he is now hidden in one of the hills or in one of the places; and it shall be, when he falls upon them at the first, that whoever hears will hear and say, There has been a slaughter among the people that follow Abessalom.

And even he who is a son of valour, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt away; for all Israel knows that your father is mighty, and that those with him are sons of valour.

For thus I have counselled in counsel: let all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Bersabee, as the sand that is by the sea in multitude, with your own face going in their midst.

And we will come upon him in one of the places where we may find him, and we will encamp against him as the dew falls upon the ground; and we will not leave of him and of the men that are with him so much as one.

And if he be gathered into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the wadi, so that not even a stone shall be left there.

And Abessalom and every man of Israel said, The counsel of Chousi the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel. For the Lord had commanded that the good counsel of Achitophel be frustrated, so that the Lord might bring all the evils upon Abessalom.

And Chousi the son of the Arachite said to Sadok and Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Achitophel counsel Abessalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus have I counselled.

And now send quickly and tell David, saying, Do not lodge tonight in Araboth of the wilderness, but by all means cross over and hasten, lest the king and all the people with him be swallowed up.

And Jonathan and Achimaas were standing at the spring of Rogel, and the maidservant went and told them, and they would go and tell King David; for they could not be seen entering into the city.

And a lad saw them and reported to Abessalom; and the two went quickly and entered into the house of a man in Baourim; and he had a cistern in his courtyard, and they went down there.

And the woman took and spread the covering over the mouth of the cistern, and spread out Araphoth upon it to dry; and the matter was not known.

And the servants of Abessalom came to the woman into the house and said, Where are Achimaas and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have passed on a little beyond the water. And they sought and did not find them, and returned to Jerusalem.

And it came to pass after they had departed, that they came up out of the cistern and went and told King David, and said to David, Arise and cross over the water quickly, for thus has Achitophel counselled concerning you.

And David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they crossed over the Jordan until the light of morning; not so much as one was missing who did not cross the Jordan.

And Achitophel saw that his counsel was not carried out, and he saddled his donkey and arose and went away to his house, to his city, and gave charge to his household, and hanged himself and died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

And David went over to Manaim, and Abessalom crossed the Jordan, he and every man of Israel with him.

And Abessalom set Amessai over the army in place of Joab. And Amessai was the son of a man whose name was Jothor the Israelite; this man went in to Abigaia daughter of Naas, the sister of Sarouia the mother of Joab.

And all Israel and Abessalom encamped in the land of Galaad.

And it came to pass when David came to Manaim, that Ouesbi son of Naas from Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Amiel from Lodabar, and Berzelli the Galaadite from Rogellim,

brought ten beds and rugs of double pile and ten cauldrons and vessels of earthenware, and wheat and barley and flour and parched grain and bean and lentil,

and honey and butter and sheep and Sapphoth of cattle; and they brought them to David and to the people that were with him to eat, for they said, The people are hungry and faint and thirsty in the wilderness.