Thematic Bible
2 Samuel 17:1 (show verse)
Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight.
2 Samuel 17:2 (show verse)
2 Samuel 17:3 (show verse)
and I will bring back all the people to you. The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at peace.”
2 Samuel 17:4 (show verse)
So the plan pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
2 Samuel 17:5 (show verse)
Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.”
2 Samuel 17:6 (show verse)
When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Ahithophel has spoken thus. Shall we carry out his plan? If not, you speak.”
2 Samuel 17:7 (show verse)
So Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the advice that Ahithophel has given is not good.”
2 Samuel 17:8 (show verse)
Moreover, Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are fierce, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is an expert in warfare, and will not spend the night with the people.
2 Samuel 17:9 (show verse)
Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of the caves or in another place; and it will be when he falls on them at the first attack, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’
2 Samuel 17:10 (show verse)
And even the one who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will completely lose heart; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men.
2 Samuel 17:11 (show verse)
But I counsel that all Israel be surely gathered to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea in abundance, and that you personally go into battle.
2 Samuel 17:12 (show verse)
So we shall come to him in one of the places where he can be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be left.
2 Samuel 17:13 (show verse)
If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the valley until not even a small stone is found there.”
2 Samuel 17:14 (show verse)
Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring calamity on Absalom.
2 Samuel 17:15 (show verse)
Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “This is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I have counseled.
2 Samuel 17:16 (show verse)
Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over, or else the king and all the people who are with him will be destroyed.’”
2 Samuel 17:17 (show verse)
2 Samuel 17:18 (show verse)
But a lad did see them and told Absalom; so the two of them departed quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it.
2 Samuel 17:19 (show verse)
And the woman took a covering and spread it over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, so that nothing was known.
2 Samuel 17:20 (show verse)
Then Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have crossed the brook of water.” And when they searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 17:21 (show verse)
It came about after they had departed that they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David, “Arise and cross over the water quickly for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you.”
2 Samuel 17:22 (show verse)
Then David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed the Jordan; and by dawn not even one remained who had not crossed the Jordan.
2 Samuel 17:23 (show verse)
Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to his city, and set his house in order, and strangled himself; thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father.
2 Samuel 17:24 (show verse)
Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
2 Samuel 17:25 (show verse)
Absalom set Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.
2 Samuel 17:26 (show verse)
And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
2 Samuel 17:27 (show verse)
Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,
2 Samuel 17:28 (show verse)
brought beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched seeds,
2 Samuel 17:29 (show verse)
honey, curds, 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.”