2 Samuel 17

Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Let me pick out twelve thousand men, and I will set out tonight and chase after David.

1Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

NoteThe background: Absalom, David's son, has led a revolt, and David has fled Jerusalem with his household and soldiers. Ahithophel had been David's own most trusted adviser before going over to Absalom; his reputation for counsel was such that his advice was treated almost as an oracle. His plan here is to strike immediately, overnight, before David can regroup.

2I will catch up to him while he is tired and his hands are weak, and I will terrify him. Then everyone with him will run away, and I will kill only the king.

2And 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:

3I will bring all the people back to you. The death of the one man you are looking for means everyone else returns. Then all the people will be at peace."

3And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

NoteThe Hebrew of this clause is difficult and the ancient versions differ. The King James takes it as "the man you want is worth all the rest, kill him and everyone comes back." The Greek Old Testament reads instead "as a bride returns to her husband," a picture of the nation coming back to Absalom willingly. Both readings survive in modern translations.

4The plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.

4And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

NoteThe elders of Israel were the heads of leading families and clans, who together spoke for the tribes in public decisions. Absalom needed their backing to make his claim to the throne look legitimate.

5Then Absalom said, "Now call Hushai the Archite too, and let us hear what he has to say as well."

5Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.

NoteHushai the Archite was a long-standing friend of David. He had gone over to Absalom at David's own instruction, in order to stay in the capital and undermine Ahithophel's advice from inside, which is what he is doing here. Absalom does not know this.

6When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, "This is the plan Ahithophel has given. Should we do what he says? If not, tell us what you think."

6And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.

7Hushai said to Absalom, "The advice Ahithophel has given is not good this time.

7And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.

8You know your father and his men," Hushai said. "They are strong fighters, and right now they are as furious as a wild bear whose cubs have been taken from her. Your father is a soldier, and he will not spend the night with the troops.

8For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy 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 thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

9Right now he is surely hiding in some cave or some other place. When some of your men are killed in the first attack, anyone who hears about it will say, 'The troops who follow Absalom are being slaughtered.'

9Behold, 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 heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

10Then even the bravest soldier, the one with the heart of a lion, will lose all his courage. For everyone in Israel knows that your father is a mighty fighter, and that the men with him are brave.

10And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

11So here is my advice. Gather all Israel to yourself, from Dan in the far north to Beersheba in the far south, a crowd as many as the grains of sand by the sea. And go into battle yourself, in person.

11Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

Note"From Dan to Beersheba" was the standard way of saying "the whole country": Dan was the northernmost Israelite town and Beersheba the southernmost, so the phrase covers everything in between.

12Then we will come upon him wherever he is found, and we will settle on him the way dew settles on the ground. Not one of him or of all the men with him will be left alive.

12So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

NoteDew settles silently and everywhere at once, covering the whole surface of the ground. The image is of an attack that arrives without warning and leaves nothing uncovered.

13And if he pulls back into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down into the valley until not even a pebble of it can be found there."

13Moreover, 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.

NoteDeliberate exaggeration, of the kind used in war talk. Towns were built on high ground with a ravine or valley below; the boast is that the army would be so large it could pull the town's walls down the slope stone by stone.

14Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel." For the LORD had decided to ruin Ahithophel's good advice, so that the LORD might bring disaster on Absalom.

14And 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.

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud; "LORD" is the traditional substitute.

15Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, "Here is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and here is what I advised.

15Then 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.

NoteZadok and Abiathar were the two chief priests, who had stayed in Jerusalem with the ark at David's request precisely so they could pass information out to him. Their sons Jonathan and Ahimaaz served as the couriers.

16So send word quickly and tell David, 'Do not spend the night at the river crossings in the wilderness. Cross over at once, or the king and all the people with him will be wiped out.'"

16Now 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.

NoteThe fords were shallow places where the Jordan could be waded across. Hushai's warning is that David should not camp on the near bank overnight but put the river between himself and any pursuit.

17Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel, because they could not be seen going into the city. A servant girl would go and bring them word, and they would go and tell King David.

17Now 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.

NoteEn-rogel was a spring just outside Jerusalem, at the foot of the valley south of the city. The two men waited there because they were known as priests' sons and would have been arrested if seen coming and going through the city gate.

18But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

18Nevertheless 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.

NoteBahurim was a village on the road running east from Jerusalem down toward the Jordan. The "well" was a cistern, a bottle-shaped pit dug in a courtyard to catch rainwater, dry enough in the summer months to hide in.

19The man's wife took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain on top of it. No one knew a thing.

19And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.

NoteSpreading grain out to dry on a courtyard surface was an everyday sight, so the covered cistern mouth looked like ordinary household work rather than a hiding place.

20When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said to them, "They have crossed the stream." The men searched but could not find them, so they went back to Jerusalem.

20And 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.

21After the men had gone, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to him, "Get up and cross the river at once, because this is the advice Ahithophel has given against you."

21And 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 hath Ahithophel counselled against you.

22So David got up, and so did all the people with him, and they crossed the Jordan River. By daybreak not a single one of them was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

22Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.

23When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order, and then he hanged himself and died. He was buried in his father's tomb.

23And 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.

Note"Put his affairs in order" translates a phrase meaning he gave instructions to his household, settling his property and family arrangements, in effect making a will. Being buried in his father's tomb, the family burial cave, means he received an honorable burial despite how he died.

24Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel who were with him.

24Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

NoteMahanaim was a fortified town east of the Jordan in the region of Gilead. It had served as a royal seat before, and lay well outside Absalom's reach in the western hill country.

25Absalom had put Amasa in charge of the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite, who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and the sister of Zeruiah, who was Joab's mother.

25And 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.

NoteAmasa was Absalom's replacement for Joab, David's long-serving army commander, who had stayed loyal to David. The genealogy matters because it makes Amasa and Joab cousins, and both of them nephews of David through his sisters. Some Hebrew manuscripts and the Greek version call Ithra an Ishmaelite rather than an Israelite; the name Nahash here is also uncertain, since elsewhere Amasa's grandfather is Jesse.

26So Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

26So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.

NoteGilead was the hill country east of the Jordan, good grazing land, held by Israelite tribes but remote from Jerusalem.

27When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim

27And 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 Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

NoteAll three men had reason to help David. Shobi came from the Ammonite royal house at Rabbah, a foreign city David had captured; Machir of Lo-debar had sheltered the surviving family of Saul; Barzillai was a wealthy landowner of Gilead. Between them they could supply an army in the field.

28brought bedding, bowls, and clay pots, along with wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, and roasted seeds,

28Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,

Note"Beds" here means bedding, mats and coverings rather than furniture. Roasted grain was fresh grain parched over a fire, ready to eat without milling or cooking, the standard traveling food. The King James "parched pulse" repeats the word for roasted grain a second time; the Hebrew text is uncertain at this point, and the item may simply be a duplication.

29and honey, curds, sheep, and cheese made from cow's milk. They brought it for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, "The people are hungry, worn out, and thirsty out in the wilderness."

29And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

NoteThe King James "butter" is curdled or soured milk, closer to yogurt than to churned butter. "Cheese of kine" means cheese made from cows' milk, though the Hebrew word occurs only here and its exact sense is not certain.