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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>2 Samuel 17 NET Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_samuel/17.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/2_samuel/17-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NET Bible</a> > 2 Samuel 17</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_samuel/16.htm" title="2 Samuel 16">◄</a> 2 Samuel 17 <a href="../2_samuel/18.htm" title="2 Samuel 18">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">NET Bible</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/net/esv/2_samuel/17.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="title">The Death of Ahithophel</p><p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>When I catch up with him he will be exhausted and worn out. I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. The entire army will return unharmed.”</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders of Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>But Absalom said, “Call for Hushai the Arkite, and let’s hear what he has to say.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?”</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Hushai replied to Absalom, “Ahithophel’s advice is not sound this time.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men – they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’ <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>If that happens even the bravest soldier – one who is lion-hearted – will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba – in number like the sand by the sea! – be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive – not one of them! <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> had decided to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> could bring disaster on Absalom.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Now send word quickly to David and warn him, “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.”</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave of his father.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Meanwhile David had gone to Mahanaim, while Absalom and all the men of Israel had crossed the Jordan River. <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.) <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>The army of Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>brought bedding, basins, and pottery utensils. They also brought food for David and all who were with him, including wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, <span class="reftext"><a href="/2_samuel/17-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>honey, curds, flocks, and cheese. For they said, “The people are no doubt hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the desert.”</p></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><a href="http://netbible.com/">NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com.<br />Used by permission. 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