1 Aitofel disse a Absalão: "Permite-me escolher doze mil homens, e partirei esta noite em perseguição a Davi.
2 Eu o atacarei enquanto ele está exausto e fraco; vou causar-lhe pânico, e seu exército fugirá. Depois matarei somente o rei,
3 e trarei todo o exército de volta a ti. É somente um homem que procuras matar. Assim, todo o exército ficará em paz".
4 Esse plano pareceu bom a Absalão e a todas as autoridades de Israel.
5 Entretanto, Absalão disse: "Chamem também Husai, o arquita, para que ouçamos a opinião dele".
6 Quando Husai entrou, Absalão lhe disse: "Aitofel deu-nos o conselho dele. Devemos fazer o que ele diz, ou você tem outra opinião? "
7 Husai respondeu: "O conselho que Aitofel deu desta vez não é bom.
8 Sabes que o teu pai e os homens que estão com ele são guerreiros, e estão furiosos como uma ursa selvagem da qual roubaram os filhotes. Além disso, teu pai é um soldado experiente e não passará a noite com o exército.
9 Ele, agora, já deve estar escondido numa caverna ou nalgum outro lugar. Se alguns dos teus soldados forem mortos no primeiro ataque, quem souber disso dirá: ‘Houve matança no meio do exército de Absalão’.
10 Então, até o mais bravo soldado, corajoso como leão, ficará morrendo de medo, pois todo o Israel sabe que teu pai é um guerreiro valente e que seus soldados são corajosos.
11 "Por isso, dou o seguinte conselho: Que se reúnam a ti todos os homens de Israel, desde Dã até Berseba, tantos como a areia da praia e que tu mesmo os conduzas na batalha.
12 Então o atacaremos onde quer que ele se encontre, e cairemos sobre ele como o orvalho cai sobre a terra. Nem ele nem nenhum dos seus homens escapará.
13 Se ele se refugiar em alguma cidade, todo o Israel levará cordas para lá, e arrastaremos aquela cidade para o vale, até que não reste ali sequer uma pequena pedra".
14 Absalão e todos os homens de Israel consideraram o conselho de Husai, o arquita, melhor do que o de Aitofel; pois o Senhor tinha decidido frustrar o eficiente conselho de Aitofel a fim de trazer ruína sobre Absalão.
15 Husai contou aos sacerdotes Zadoque e Abiatar o conselho que Aitofel dera a Absalão e às autoridades de Israel, e o que ele mesmo lhes tinha aconselhado em seguida.
16 Então pediu que enviassem imediatamente esta mensagem a Davi: "Não passe a noite nos pontos de travessia do Jordão, no deserto, mas atravesse logo o rio, senão o rei e todo o seu exército serão exterminados".
17 Jônatas e Aimaás estavam em En-Rogel, e uma serva os informava regularmente, pois não podiam arriscar-se a serem vistos na cidade. Eles, por sua vez, iam relatar ao rei Davi o que tinham ouvido.
18 Mas um jovem os viu e avisou Absalão. Então eles partiram rapidamente e foram para a casa de um habitante de Baurim, que tinha um poço no quintal. Eles desceram ao poço,
19 e a dona da casa colocou a tampa no poço e, para disfarçar, espalhou grãos de cereal por cima.
20 Os soldados de Absalão chegaram à casa da mulher e lhe perguntaram: "Onde estão Aimaás e Jônatas? " A mulher respondeu: "Eles atravessaram as águas". Os homens os procuraram sem sucesso, e voltaram a Jerusalém.
21 Tendo eles ido embora, os dois saíram do poço e foram informar o rei Davi. Falaram-lhe do conselho que Aitofel dera contra ele, e lhe disseram que atravessasse imediatamente o Jordão.
22 Então Davi e todo o seu exército saíram e, quando o sol nasceu, todos tinham atravessado o Jordão.
23 Vendo Aitofel que o seu conselho não havia sido aceito, selou seu jumento e foi para casa, para a sua cidade natal; pôs seus negócios em ordem, e depois se enforcou. Ele foi sepultado no túmulo de seu pai.
24 Davi já tinha chegado a Maanaim, quando Absalão atravessou o Jordão com todos os homens de Israel.
25 Absalão havia nomeado Amasa para comandar o exército em lugar de Joabe. Amasa era filho de Jéter, um israelita que havia possuído Abigail, filha de Naás e irmã de Zeruia, mãe de Joabe.
26 Absalão e os israelitas acamparam em Gileade.
27 Quando Davi chegou a Maanaim, Sobi, filho de Naás, de Rabá dos amonitas, e Maquir, filho de Amiel, de Lo-Debar, e o gileadita Barzilai, de Rogelim,
28 trouxeram a Davi e ao seu exército camas, bacias e utensílios de cerâmica e também trigo, cevada, farinha, grãos torrados, feijão e lentilha,
29 mel e coalhada, ovelhas e queijo de leite de vaca; pois sabiam que o exército estava cansado, com fome e com sede no deserto.
1 Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this 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 strike the king only:
3 And I will bring back all the people unto you: only the man whom you seek will be struck: so all the people shall be in peace.
4 And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
5 Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says.
6 And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spoke unto him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak you.
7 And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.
8 For, said Hushai, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
9 Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of the people fall at the first attack, that whosoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
10 And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as 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 valiant men.
11 Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto you, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person.
12 So shall we 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 Moreover, if he has gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, 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. For the LORD had purposed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.
15 Then said Hushai unto 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, 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 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they dared not be seen to come into the city: and a maidservant went and told them; and they went and told king David.
18 Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down into it.
19 And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground grain thereon; and the thing was not known.
20 And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They are gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
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 said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.
22 Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there was left not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.
23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and got him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.
24 Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
25 And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man’s son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother.
26 So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
27 And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that 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 basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched grain, and beans, and lentils, and parched seed,
29 And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of cows, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.