Geneva(i)
1 Moreouer Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me chuse out now twelue thousand men, and I will vp and follow after Dauid this night,
2 And I will come vpon him: for he is wearie, and weake handed: so I will feare him, and all the people that are with him, shall flee, and I will smite the King onely,
3 And I will bring againe all the people vnto thee, and when all shall returne, ( the man whome thou seekest being slaine) all the people shalbe 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 vs heare likewise what he sayth.
6 So when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spake vnto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken thus: shall we doe after his saying, or no? tell thou.
7 Hushai then answered vnto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath giuen, is not good at this time.
8 For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father, and his men, that they be strong men, and are chafed in minde as a beare robbed of her whelps in the fielde: also thy father is a valiant warrier, and will not lodge with the people.
9 Behold, he is hid now in some caue, or in some place: and though some of them be ouerthrowen at the first, yet the people shall heare, and say, The people that follow Absalom, be ouerthrowen.
10 Then he also that is valiant whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall shrinke and faint: for all Israel knoweth, that thy father is valiant, and they which be with him, stout men.
11 Therefore my counsell is, that all Israel be gathered vnto thee, from Dan euen to Beer-sheba as the sand of the sea in nomber, and that thou goe to battell in thine owne person.
12 So shall we come vpon him in some place, where we shall finde him, and we will vpon him as the dewe falleth on the ground: and of all the men that are with him, wee will not leaue him one.
13 Moreouer if he be gotten into a citie, then shall all the men of Israel bring ropes to that citie, and we will draw it into the riuer, vntill there be not one small stone founde there.
14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel sayde, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better, then the counsell of Ahithophel: for the Lord had determined to destroy the good counsell of Ahithophel, that the Lord might bring euill vpon Absalom.