For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

Now, therefore, send quickly, and tell David, saying, - Do not lodge to-night in the waste plains of the wilderness, thou must, even pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.

And now, rise, go out and speak unto the heart of thy servants, for by Jehovah I have sworn, that -- thou art not going out -- there doth not lodge a man with thee to-night; and this is worse for thee than all the evil that hath come upon thee from thy youth till now.'