2 Samuel 17 Then Achitophel said to Abessalom, Let me, I pray thee, chuse out for myself twelve thousand men; and I will arise and pursue David this very night.

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Then Achitophel said to Abessalom, Let me, I pray thee, chuse out for myself twelve thousand men; and I will arise and pursue David this very night. ² And I will come upon him while he is weary, and weak-handed, and surprise him; so that all the people who are with him will flee. And I will smite the king alone, ³ and bring all the people back to thee, as a bride returneth to her husband. Thou seekest only the life of one man, therefore all the people may be at peace. ⁴ Though this reasoning seemed good in the sight of Abessalom, and in the sight of all the elders of Israel, ⁵ yet Abessalom said, Call, I pray you, Chousi the Arachite, and let us hear also what he saith. ⁶ And when Chousi came to Abessalom, Abessalom spoke to him saying, In this manner Achitophel has spoken; shall we do as he adviseth? If not, speak thou. ⁷ Upon this Chousi said to Abessalom, The counsel which Achitophel hath given, is, for this once, not good. ⁸ Thou thyself, said Chousi, knowest thy father and his men, that they are very brave, and chafed in their minds like a bear bereaved of her whelps in the fields; or like a wild boar in the plain. And thy father is a man of war, and will not let the people rest. ⁹ For behold he is now hid in one of the mountains, or in some secure place, and it shall be that when he shall sally out on them at the first, every one who heareth will say, There hath been a slaughter among them who follow Abessalom: ¹⁰ in which case the son of valour himself, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will assuredly be dismayed. For all Israel know that thy father is a mighty man, and that they who are with him are sons of valour. ¹¹ This therefore is the counsel which I would give; Let all Israel be gathered to thee, from Dan to Bersabee, like the sand which is on the sea shore for multitude; and let thy presence go forth in the midst of them. ¹² And when we shall come upon him in one of the places where we may find him, we will encamp around him as the dew falleth on the ground. And we will not leave with him or the men who are with him so much as one man. ¹³ And if he be shut up in any city, all Israel will take ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the ditch, so that there shall not be left so much as a stone. ¹⁴ And Abessalom, and all Israel, said, The counsel of Chousi the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel. For the Lord had determined to defeat the counsel of Achitophel, which was good, that the Lord might bring upon Abessalom all the consequent evils. ¹⁵ Then Chousi, the Arachite, said to Sadok, and Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Achitophel advise Abessalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus I have counselled. ¹⁶ Now therefore send speedily, and tell David and say, Lodge not to night at Araboth of the wilderness, but cross with all speed. Perhaps he may prevail with the king and all the people who are with him. ¹⁷ Now Jonathan and Achimaas had taken their station at the fountain Rogel, and a girl went out, and gave them intelligence, and they went and told David, for they might not be seen entering the city. ¹⁸ But a servant saw them and told Abessalom. Now they two had set out with speed, and got to the house of a man at Bakurim, who had a well in his court and they went down into it, and the woman took and spread a covering over the mouth of the well, and laid thereon balls of dough to dry; so that the thing was not known. ²⁰ And when the servants of Abessalom came to the woman, into the house and said, Where are Achimaas and Jonathan? The woman said, They went a little while ago over the water. And when they had sought, but did not find them, they Rev_21:1-27 turned to Jerusalem. And when they were gone, Achimaas and Jonathan came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said to him, Arise and cross the water with all speed: for thus hath Achitophel counselled concerning you. ²² Whereupon David arose, and the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan till the morning light, till there ²³ was not one left, who had not crossed the Jordan. Now when Achitophel saw that his advice was not taken, he saddled his ass, and arose, and went to his house to his own city, and having given orders to his household he strangled himself, and died, and was buried in his father's tomb. ²⁴ And David continued his march to Manaim, and Abessalom crossed the Jordan, he and all Israel with him. ²⁵ Now Abessalom had set Amessai over the army in the room of Joab. Amessai was the son of a man whose name was Jether. He was a Jezraelite, and had married Abigaia, a daughter of Naas, and a sister of Saruia the mother of Joab. ²⁶ And all Israel with Abessalom encamped in the land of Galaad. ²⁷ Now when David came to Manaim, Ovesbi, son of Naas, of Rabbath of the Ammonites, and Machir, son of Amiel of Lodabar, and Berzelli, the Galaadite of Rogellim, ²⁸ brought ten beds of double tapestry, and ten kettles and vessels of earthen ware, and wheat, and barley, and fine flour, and meal, and beans, and lentils, ²⁹ and honey, and butter, and sheep, and curdled milk of kine, and presented them to David, and to the people who were with him, to eat. For they said, The people must be hungry and weary in the wilderness.