1 Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me take out twelve thousand men and this very night I will go after David:2 And I will come up with him when he is tired and feeble, and make him full of fear: and all the people with him will go in flight; and I will make an attack on the king only:3 And I will make all the people come back to you as a bride comes back to her husband: it is the life of only one man you are going after; so all the people will be at peace.4 And the saying was pleasing to Absalom and to the responsible men of Israel.5 Then Absalom said, Now send for Hushai the Archite, and let us give ear to what he has to say.6 And when Hushai came, Absalom said to him, This is what Ahithophel has said: are we to do as he says? if not, what is your suggestion?7 And Hushai said to Absalom, Ahithophel's idea is not a good one at this time.8 Hushai said further, You have knowledge of your father and his men, that they are men of war, and that their feelings are bitter, like those of a bear in the field whose young ones have been taken from her: and your father is a man of war, and will not take his night's rest with the people;9 But he will certainly have taken cover now in some hole or secret place; and if some of our people, at the first attack, are overcome, then any hearing of it will say, There is destruction among the people who are on Absalom's side.10 Then even the strongest, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will become like water; for all Israel is conscious that your father is a man of war, and those who are with him are strong and without fear.11 But my suggestion is that all Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, comes together to you, a great army like the sands of the sea in number; and that you yourself go out among them.12 Then we will come on him in some place, wherever he may be, falling on him as the dew comes on the earth: and of him and all the men who are with him not one will get away with his life.13 And if he has gone into some town, then let all Israel take strong cords to that town, and we will have it pulled into the valley, till not one small stone is to be seen there.14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, Hushai's suggestion is better than that of Ahithophel. For it was the purpose of the Lord to make the wise designs of Ahithophel without effect, so that the Lord might send evil on Absalom.15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, This is the suggestion made by Ahithophel to Absalom and the responsible men of Israel, and this is what I said to them.16 So now send the news quickly to David, and say, Do not take your night's rest by the way across the river to the waste land, but be certain to go over; or the king and all the people with him will come to destruction.17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel; and a servant-girl went from time to time and gave them news and they went with the news to King David, for it was not wise for them to let themselves be seen coming into the town.18 But a boy saw them, and gave word of it to Absalom: so the two of them went away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a water-hole in his garden, and they went down into it.19 And a woman put a cover over the hole, and put crushed grain on top of it, and no one had any knowledge of it.20 And 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 gone from here to the stream. And after searching for them, and seeing nothing of them, they went back to Jerusalem.21 Then after the servants had gone away, they came up out of the water-hole and went to give King David the news; and they said, Get up and go quickly over the water, for such and such are Ahithophel's designs against you.22 So David and all the people who were with him went up over Jordan: when dawn came, every one of them had gone over Jordan.23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his suggestion was not acted on, he got his ass ready, and went back to his house, to the town where he came from, and having put his house in order, he put himself to death by hanging; so he came to his end and was put in the resting-place of his father.24 And David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom, with all the men of Israel, went over Jordan.25 And Absalom put Amasa at the head of the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had been the lover of Abigail, the daughter of Jesse, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.26 And Israel and Absalom put up their tents in the land of Gilead.27 Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi, the son of Nahash of Rabbah, the Ammonite, and Machir, the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,28 Came with beds and basins and pots, and grain and meal, and all sorts of dry foods,29 And honey and butter and sheep and milk-cheeses, for David and his people: for they said, This people is in the waste land, needing food and drink and rest.

1 Dixit ergo Achitophel ad Absalom : Eligam mihi duodecim millia virorum, et consurgens persequar David hac nocte. 2 Et irruens super eum (quippe qui lassus est, et solutis manibus), percutiam eum : cumque fugerit omnis populus qui cum eo est, percutiam regem desolatum. 3 Et reducam universum populum, quomodo unus homo reverti solet : unum enim virum tu quris : et omnis populus erit in pace. 4 Placuitque sermo ejus Absalom, et cunctis majoribus natu Isral. 5 Ait autem Absalom : Vocate Chusai Arachiten, et audiamus quid etiam ipse dicat. 6 Cumque venisset Chusai ad Absalom, ait Absalom ad eum : Hujuscemodi sermonem locutus est Achitophel : facere debemus an non ? quod das consilium ? 7 Et dixit Chusai ad Absalom : Non est bonum consilium quod dedit Achitophel hac vice. 8 Et rursum intulit Chusai : Tu nosti patrem tuum, et viros qui cum eo sunt, esse fortissimos et amaro animo, veluti si ursa raptis catulis in saltu sviat : sed et pater tuus vir bellator est, nec morabitur cum populo. 9 Forsitan nunc latitat in foveis, aut in uno, quo voluerit, loco : et cum ceciderit unus quilibet in principio, audiet quicumque audierit, et dicet : Facta est plaga in populo qui sequebatur Absalom. 10 Et fortissimus quisque, cujus cor est quasi leonis, pavore solvetur : scit enim omnis populus Isral fortem esse patrem tuum, et robustos omnes qui cum eo sunt. 11 Sed hoc mihi videtur rectum esse consilium. Congregetur ad te universus Isral, a Dan usque Bersabee, quasi arena maris innumerabilis : et tu eris in medio eorum. 12 Et irruemus super eum in quocumque loco inventus fuerit, et operiemus eum, sicut cadere solet ros super terram : et non relinquemus de viris qui cum eo sunt, ne unum quidem. 13 Quod si urbem aliquam fuerit ingressus, circumdabit omnis Isral civitati illi funes, et trahemus eam in torrentem, ut non reperiatur ne calculus quidem ex ea.14 Dixitque Absalom, et omnes viri Isral : Melius est consilium Chusai Arachit, consilio Achitophel : Domini autem nutu dissipatum est consilium Achitophel utile, ut induceret Dominus super Absalom malum. 15 Et ait Chusai Sadoc et Abiathar sacerdotibus : Hoc et hoc modo consilium dedit Achitophel Absalom et senioribus Isral : et ego tale et tale dedi consilium. 16 Nunc ergo mittite cito, et nuntiate David, dicentes : Ne moreris nocte hac in campestribus deserti, sed absque dilatione transgredere : ne forte absorbeatur rex, et omnis populus qui cum eo est. 17 Jonathas autem et Achimaas stabant juxta fontem Rogel : abiit ancilla et nuntiavit eis. Et illi profecti sunt, ut referrent ad regem David nuntium : non enim poterant videri, aut introire civitatem. 18 Vidit autem eos quidam puer, et indicavit Absalom : illi vero concito gradu ingressi sunt domum cujusdam viri in Bahurim, qui habebat puteum in vestibulo suo : et descenderunt in eum. 19 Tulit autem mulier, et expandit velamen super os putei, quasi siccans ptisanas : et sic latuit res. 20 Cumque venissent servi Absalom in domum, ad mulierem dixerunt : Ubi est Achimaas et Jonathas ? Et respondit eis mulier : Transierunt festinanter, gustata paululum aqua. At hi qui qurebant, cum non reperissent, reversi sunt in Jerusalem. 21 Cumque abiissent, ascenderunt illi de puteo, et pergentes nuntiaverunt regi David, et dixerunt : Surgite, et transite cito fluvium : quoniam hujuscemodi dedit consilium contra vos Achitophel. 22 Surrexit ergo David, et omnis populus qui cum eo erat, et transierunt Jordanem, donec dilucesceret : et ne unus quidem residuus fuit, qui non transisset fluvium. 23 Porro Achitophel videns quod non fuisset factum consilium suum, stravit asinum suum, surrexitque, et abiit in domum suam et in civitatem suam : et disposita domo sua, suspendio interiit, et sepultus est in sepulchro patris sui.24 David autem venit in castra, et Absalom transivit Jordanem, ipse et omnes viri Isral cum eo. 25 Amasam vero constituit Absalom pro Joab super exercitum : Amasa autem erat filius viri qui vocabatur Jetra de Jezrali, qui ingressus est ad Abigail filiam Naas, sororem Sarvi, qu fuit mater Joab. 26 Et castrametatus est Isral cum Absalom in terra Galaad. 27 Cumque venisset David in castra, Sobi filius Naas de Rabbath filiorum Ammon, et Machir filius Ammihel de Lodabar, et Berzellai Galaadites de Rogelim, 28 obtulerunt ei stratoria, et tapetia, et vasa fictilia, frumentum, et hordeum, et farinam, et polentam, et fabam, et lentem, et frixum cicer, 29 et mel, et butyrum, oves, et pingues vitulos : dederuntque David, et populo qui cum eo erat, ad vescendum : suspicati enim sunt populum fame et siti fatigari in deserto.