2Samuel 17:1-4 Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom.(Absalom {2Chronicles 11:20} was only son of David by Maacah:.2Samuel 3:3; Absalom had great beauty and an amazing head of hair:.2Sanuel 14:25,26; he was out to kill his dad), Let me now choose out twelve thousand men and I will arise and pursue after David this night.(Absalom was out to kill his dad). 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. And I will bring back all the people unto you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. So all the people shall be in peace. And the saying pleased Absalom well and all the elders of Israel.

2Samuel 17:5-13 Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also and let us hear likewise what he saith. And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner, shall we do after his saying? if not, speak you. And Hushai.(another counselor Absalom asked advice of).said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time. For, said Hushai, you know your father and his men, that they be mighty men and they be 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. Behold, he is hid now in some pit or in some other place and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. 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 which be with him are valiant men. Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude and that you go to battle in thine own person. 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. Moreover, if he be 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.

2Samuel 17:14 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 appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

2Samuel 17:15-22 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 counselled. 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. Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel for they might not be seen to come into the city. And a wench.went and told them and they went and told king David. 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, which had a well in his court, whither they went down. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and spread ground corn thereon and the thing was not known. And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. 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 counselled against you. Then David arose and all the people that were with him and they passed over Jordan and by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.

2Samuel 17:23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass and arose and gat him home to his house, to his city and put his household in order and hanged himself and died and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

2Samuel 17:25 And Absalom.(2Chronicles 11:20; was one of David's sons).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.

....continues to Chapter 18

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