2 Samuel 17:15-29 - Hushai Sends Word To David

¹⁵ Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus have I counseled. ¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Do not lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.

¹⁷ Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En-rogel. And a maid-servant used to go and tell them, and they went and told king David, for they might not be seen to come into the city. ¹⁸ But a lad saw them, and told Absalom. And they went away quickly, both of them, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his court, and they went down there. ¹⁹ And the woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground grain on it. And nothing was known.

²⁰ And Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they return

²¹ And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David. And they said to David, Arise ye, and pass quickly over the water, for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you. ²² Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who was not gone over the Jordan. ²³ And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and got home to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself. And he died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵ And Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother. ²⁶ And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. ²⁷ And it came to pass, when David came to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, ²⁸ brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and roasted [grain], and beans, and lentils, and roasted [pulse], ²⁹ and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat. For they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.