1Ahithophel also told Absalom, "Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will go after David tonight.
2I will attack him while he is tired and exhausted, and I will make him afraid. All the people with him will run away. I will only kill the king,
3and then I will bring all the people safely back to you. When the man you are looking for is dead, the fighting will be over, and everyone will live in peace."
4This plan pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
5Then Absalom said, "Now call Hushai the Archite as well, and let's hear what he has to say."
6When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, "Ahithophel has given this advice. Should we follow it? If not, tell us your opinion."
7Hushai told Absalom, "The advice Ahithophel gave this time is not good."
8Hushai added, "You know your father and his men—they are strong warriors, and they are as furious as a bear whose cubs have been taken in the wild. Your father is a man of war and won't stay with the regular troops.
9Look, right now he is hiding in some cave or another secret place. If some of your men are killed in the first attack, everyone who hears about it will say, 'There's a massacre among Absalom's followers!'
10Even the bravest man, whose heart is like a lion's, will lose courage; because all Israel knows your father is a powerful man, and his followers are brave.
11Instead, I advise that all Israel, from Dan all the way to Beersheba, be gathered to you—as many people as the sand on the seashore. And you should lead them into battle personally.
12Then we will find him wherever he is and fall on him like dew falls to the ground. We won't leave even one man alive, neither him nor any of his soldiers.
13Furthermore, if he has taken refuge in a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the river until not a single stone is left."
14Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "Hushai the Archite's advice is better than Ahithophel's." This was because Yahweh had decided to defeat Ahithophel's good advice so that Yahweh could bring disaster on Absalom.
15Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, "Ahithophel gave Absalom and the elders of Israel that advice; but I gave this advice.
16So now, quickly send a message to David: 'Do not spend the night at the crossings of the wilderness. Instead, you must cross over tonight, otherwise the king and all the people with him will be destroyed.'"
17Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel, and a female servant would go and tell them messages, and they would then go and tell King David. They couldn't risk being seen entering the city.
18But a boy saw them and told Absalom. So Ahimaaz and Jonathan quickly left and went to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.
19The woman took a covering and spread it over the well's opening, then scattered crushed grain on top of it so no one would suspect anything.
20When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman answered, “They crossed over the stream.” They searched but didn't find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.
21After Absalom's servants left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed out of the well and went to tell King David. They said to David, “Hurry and cross the water, because Ahithophel has given counsel against you.”
22So David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. By morning light, not one person was left who had not crossed the Jordan.
23When Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled his donkey, went home to his city, put his house in order, and then hanged himself. He died and was buried in his father's tomb.
24David then arrived at Mahanaim. Absalom and all the men of Israel with him also crossed the Jordan.
25Absalom appointed Amasa to command 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 sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.
26Israel and Absalom set up camp in the land of Gilead.
27When David arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,
28brought beds, basins, earthenware pots, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, and more roasted grain,
29honey, butter, sheep, and cheese from the herd for David and for the people who were with him to eat. They said, “The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty in the wilderness.”