2 Samuel 17:1-14 - Hushai Frustrates The Counsel Of Ahithophel
1 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Please let me choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. 2 And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and I will make him tremble. And all the people with him will flee. And I will strike the king by himself. 3 And I will bring back all the people to you, when all return, except the man whom you are seeking. All the people shall be in peace. 4 And the saying pleased Absalom very much, and all the elders of Israel.
5 And Absalom said, Please call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what is in his mouth.
6 And Hushai came in to Absalom. And Absalom spoke to him saying, Ahithophel has spoken in this way. Shall we do his word? If not, you speak.
7 And Hushai said to Absalom, The advice which Ahithophel has given is not good at this time. 8 For, Hushai said, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are bitter of soul, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is a man of war, and will not stay the night with the people. 9 Behold, he is hidden now in some pit, or in one of the places. And it shall be, at the falling among them at the first, whoever hears will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. 10 And also he, the son of valor, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and they who are with him are mighty men. 11 Therefore I advise that all Israel be generally gathered to you, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude. And you yourself shall go into battle. 12 And we shall come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him like the dew falls upon the ground. And of all the men that are with him, not even one shall be left. 13 And if he has gotten into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river until there is not one small stone found there. 14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Jehovah had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring evil on Absalom.