1 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me, I pray, choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David to-night;2 and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only;3 and I will bring back all the people to thee. The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: all the people shall be in peace.4 And the saying was right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.5 And Absalom said, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and we will hear also what he says.6 And Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner: shall we carry out his word? If not, speak thou.7 And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.8 And Hushai said, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are of exasperated spirit, 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.9 Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or some such place; and it will come to pass, when some of them fall at the first, whoever heareth it will say, There has been slaughter among the people that follow Absalom,10 and even the valiant man whose heart is as the heart of a lion shall utterly melt; for all Israel knows that thy father is a mighty man, and they that are with him are valiant men.11 But I counsel that all Israel be speedily gathered to thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.12 And we shall come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.13 And if he withdraw into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the torrent, until there be 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. And Jehovah had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, in order that Jehovah might bring evil upon Absalom.15 And 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 counselled.16 And now send quickly, and tell David saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.17 And Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; and the maid went and told 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. Then they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man at 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 corn on it; and the thing was not known.20 And Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, and said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And they sought and could not find {them}, and returned to Jerusalem.21 And it came to pass 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 pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counselled against you.22 Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan; by the morning light there was not one of them missing that had not gone over the Jordan.23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose and went to his house, to his city, and gave charge to his household, and hanged himself, and he died; and he was buried in the sepulchre of his father.24 And 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 host instead of Joab; which Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Jithra the Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother.26 And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.27 And as soon as David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,28 brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched {corn}, and beans, and lentils, and parched {pulse},29 and honey, and cream, and sheep, and cheese of kine to David, and to the people that were with him, to eat; for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.

1 Verder het Agitofel vir Absalom gesê: Laat ek tog twaalf duisend man uitsoek en my klaarmaak en Dawid vannag agternajaag,2 dat ek hom kan oorval, terwyl hy moeg en slap van hande is, en hom verskrik; dan sal al die mense vlug wat by hom is, en ek sal net die koning neerslaan.3 En ek sal die hele volk na u terugbring: die terugkeer van almal hang af van die man wat u soek; die hele volk sal tevrede wees.4 En die woord was reg in die oë van Absalom en in die oë van al die oudstes van Israel.5 Maar Absalom het gesê: Roep tog ook Husai, die Arkiet, en laat ons ook hoor wat hy sê.6 Toe Husai by Absalom inkom, het Absalom met hom gespreek en gesê: So het Agitofel gespreek. Sal ons sy raad opvolg? So nie, spreek jy dan.7 En Husai sê vir Absalom: Die raad wat Agitofel hierdie keer gegee het, is nie goed nie.8 Verder het Husai gesê: U weet dat u vader en sy manne helde is en bitter van siel soos 'n beer wat van haar kleintjies beroof is in die veld; ook is u vader 'n krygsman, en hy sal nie by die volk vernag nie.9 Kyk, nou het hy hom weggesteek in een van die kuile of in een van die ander plekke, en as daar al by die begin enkele onder hulle val en die mense dit hoor, sal hulle sê: Die manskappe wat Absalom volg, het 'n neerlaag gely!10 Dan sal selfs hy wat 'n dapper man is, wat 'n hart het soos 'n leeu se hart, heeltemal versmelt; want die hele Israel weet dat u vader 'n held is, en dat dapper manne by hom is.11 Maar ek raai aan: Laat die hele Israel van Dan tot Bers,ba, soos sand wat aan die seestrand is in menigte, voltallig by u versamel word; en u moet persoonlik in die stryd trek.12 En as ons by hom kom in een van die plekke waar hy hom bevind, dan val ons op hom neer soos dou op die aarde val, sodat daar van hom en van al die manne wat by hom is, selfs nie een oorbly nie.13 En as hy hom in 'n stad terugtrek, moet die hele Israel toue aanbring na daardie stad, en ons sal dit wegsleep na die spruit totdat daar selfs geen klippie meer te vinde is nie.14 Toe sê Absalom en al die manne van Israel: Die raad van Husai, die Arkiet, is beter as die raad van Agitofel. Maar die HERE het dit beskik om die goeie raad van Agitofel te verydel, sodat die HERE die onheil oor Absalom kon bring.15 En Husai het aan Sadok en Abjatar, die priesters, gesê: So en so het Agitofel Absalom en die oudstes van Israel aangeraai, maar so en so het ek aangeraai.16 Stuur dan nou gou, en laat Dawid weet: Vernag nie by die woestyndriwwe nie, maar trek sekerlik deur; anders word die koning en al die mense wat by hom is, vernietig.17 Intussen het Jonatan en Ah¡ma„s by die fontein Rogel gestaan, terwyl 'n diensmeisie gaan om vir hulle berig te bring; hulle moes dan weer gaan en dit aan koning Dawid oorbring. Want hulle moes hulle nie laat sien deur in die stad in te gaan nie.18 Maar 'n seun het hulle gesien en dit aan Absalom meegedeel. Toe gaan hulle twee haastig weg en kom by die huis van 'n man in Bahurim wat 'n put op sy erf gehad het, en hulle het daarin afgesak.19 En die vrou het 'n doek geneem en dit bo-oor die put oopgetrek en graankorrels daarop uitgestrooi, sodat 'n mens niks kon merk nie.20 Toe Absalom se dienaars by die vrou in die huis kom, vra hulle: Waar is Ah¡ma„s en Jonatan? En die vrou sê vir hulle: Hulle het die watertjie deurgegaan. En hulle het gesoek maar niks gekry nie, en na Jerusalem teruggegaan.21 Nadat hulle weg was, het hulle uit die put opgeklim en verder gegaan en aan koning Dawid berig gebring en aan Dawid gesê: Maak julle klaar en trek gou die water deur, want so het Agitofel teen julle raad gegee.22 Daarop het Dawid hom klaargemaak, en al die mense wat by hom was, en die Jordaan deurgetrek. Teen dat dit die môre lig geword het, het selfs nie een ontbreek wat nie die Jordaan deurgetrek het nie.23 En toe Agitofel sien dat sy raad nie opgevolg is nie, saal hy die esel op en maak hom klaar, en hy het na sy huis in sy stad gegaan en aan sy huis bevel gegee en homself gewurg. So het hy dan gesterwe; en hy is begrawe in die graf van sy vader.24 En Dawid het al in Mahan im aangekom terwyl Absalom deur die Jordaan trek, hy en al die manne van Israel saam met hom.25 En Absalom het Am sa in Joab se plek oor die leër aangestel; en Am sa was die seun van 'n man met die naam van Jitra, die Ismaeliet wat ingegaan het by Ab¡gail, die dogter van Nahas, die suster van Seruja, Joab se moeder.26 En Israel en Absalom het laer opgeslaan in die land G¡lead.27 Net toe Dawid in Mahan im aankom, bring Sobi, die seun van Nahas, uit Rabba van die kinders van Ammon, en Magir, die seun van Ammiël, uit Lodebar, en Bars¡llai, die Gileadiet, uit Rogelim,28 beddegoed en skottels en erdegoed en koring en gars en meel en gebraaide koring en bone en lensies, ook gebraai,29 en heuning en dikmelk en kleinvee en kaas van beesmelk na Dawid om te eet, en na die mense wat by hom was, want hulle het gesê: Die mense het honger en is moeg en het dors geword in die woestyn.