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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=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>2 Samuel 17 ISV</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" /></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="../">ISV</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">International Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/isv/esv/2_samuel/17.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="noindent"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“Give me 12,000 men! I’ll leave<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:1 Lit. get up">a</a></span> tonight and pursue David,” Ahithophel advised Absalom. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“I’ll catch him while he is still tired and weak.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:2 Lit. and weak-handed">b</a></span> I’ll frighten him so all his people with him desert him. But I’ll only kill the king. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Then I’ll bring everybody else back to you. When the man you’re looking for is dead, all the rest of the people will return quietly.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Even though this plan seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all of the elders of Israel, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Absalom replied, “Call in Hushai the Archite so I can hear what he has to say, too!” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>When Hushai approached Absalom, Absalom asked him, “Here’s what Ahithophel had to advise. Should we do what he says? Or if not, say so!”</p> <p class="heading">Hushai Counters Ahithophel’s Advice</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“Ahithophel’s advice is not best at this time,” Hushai suggested to Absalom. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>“You know how strong your father and his men are. They’re as mad as a bear robbed of her cubs! Furthermore, your father is a skilled warrior. He won’t stay with his army at night. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Look! He’s probably already hiding in a cave or someplace like that. If the first attack fails, people will hear about it and think, ‘Absalom’s army is losing!’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Then even men who would otherwise be as brave as lions will be scared, because every Israeli knows your father is a mighty man, and they know his men are valiant! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>So here’s my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other!<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:11 Lit. from Dan to Beer-sheba; i.e. Hushai was stalling for time, since Dan was the northernmost Israeli city and Beer-sheba its southernmost.">c</a></span> You’ll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you’ll go into battle! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>We’ll go find David wherever he’s hiding. We’ll fall on him like dew on the ground! We’ll kill him and all of his men, and we won’t leave even one man alive! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>If he escapes into a city, we’ll bring ropes to that city and tear it down! We won’t leave a single stone left in the valley!”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Absalom and all of the Israelis replied, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s!”</p> <p class="heading">Hushai Warns David</p><p class="reg">But the LORD had planned to circumvent the sound advice of Ahithophel so the LORD could bring Absalom to destruction. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>So Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, what Ahithophel had suggested to Absalom and the elders of Israel. He also reported what he himself had proposed. Hushai said, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“Quick! Get word to David! Tell him not to spend the night at the crossings that lead to the desert. Instead, he must cross the Jordan River immediately. That way, if he crosses the river, the king and his entourage<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:16 Lit. people; and so throughout the chapter">d</a></span> will survive.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Meanwhile, since they could not risk being seen entering the city, Jonathan and Ahimaaz had been waiting at En-rogel, where a young servant woman was to go to inform them and they would then go brief King David. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>But a young man observed Jonathan and Ahimaaz and informed Absalom, so they left in a hurry, arrived at the home of a man who lived at Bahurim, and hid inside a well that was in his courtyard. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>The man’s wife grabbed a sheet, covered the mouth of the well with it, and spread some dried grain over it. As a result, nobody could tell it was a hiding place.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:19 Lit. And nothing was known">e</a></span> </p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>When Absalom’s servants approached the woman of the house, they asked her, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”</p> <p class="reg">“They’ve already crossed the brook,” the woman answered. So Absalom’s servants went away in search of Jonathan and Ahimaaz, but they couldn’t find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>A little while later, the men crawled up out of the well and went off to talk to King David. They told David, “Get up! Cross the water quickly, because this is what Ahithophel advised about you…” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>So David got up and all of his entourage crossed the Jordan River.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:22 The Heb. lacks River; and so throughout the chapter">f</a></span> Everyone had crossed the Jordan River by dawn’s first light.</p> <p class="heading">Ahithophel’s Suicide</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Meanwhile, when Ahithophel observed that his counsel was not being acted upon, he saddled his donkey, got up, and left for his hometown. Leaving behind a set of orders for his household, he hanged<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:23 Lit. strangled">g</a></span> himself. After his death he was buried in his father’s tomb.</p> <p class="heading">David Receives Supplies in the Wilderness</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Later, David arrived at Mahanaim. Absalom and all of the Israelis who supported him crossed the Jordan River. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Absalom had installed Amasa in place of Joab over the army. (Amasa was the son of a man named Jether the Ishmaelite. His mother was Abigail, a daughter of Nahash and a sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.) <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Absalom and the Israelis with him<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:26 The Heb. lacks with him">h</a></span> camped in the territory of Gilead. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>When David arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi (Nahash’s son from the Ammonite town of Rabbah), Makir (Ammiel’s son from Lo-debar), and Barzillai (from Rogelim in Gilead) were already there. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>They brought along bedding, bowls, clay basins, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grains, beans, peas, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/17-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>honey, cheeses,<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="17:29 Or milk curds">i</a></span> sheep, and cheese made from cow’s milk for David and his entourage because they had been reasoning, “The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the wilderness.”</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="ftn"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn1"><span class="fnb">a</span> 17:1 Lit. <i>get up</i><br /><span class="fnb">b</span> 17:2 Lit. <i>and weak-handed</i><br /><span class="fnb">c</span> 17:11 Lit. <i>from Dan to Beer-sheba</i>; i.e. Hushai was stalling for time, since Dan was the northernmost Israeli city and Beer-sheba its southernmost.<br /><span class="fnb">d</span> 17:16 Lit. <i>people</i>; and so throughout the chapter<br /><span class="fnb">e</span> 17:19 Lit. <i>And nothing was known</i><br /><span class="fnb">f</span> 17:22 The Heb. lacks <i>River</i>; and so throughout the chapter<br /><span class="fnb">g</span> 17:23 Lit. <i>strangled</i><br /><span class="fnb">h</span> 17:26 The Heb. lacks <i>with him</i><br /><span class="fnb">i</span> 17:29 Or <i>milk curds</i><br /></span><br><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><div align="center"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1<br />Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation<br />ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../2_samuel/16.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="2 Samuel 16"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="2 Samuel 16" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../2_samuel/18.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="2 Samuel 18"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="2 Samuel 18" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/2_samuel/17-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="../sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><div align="center" style="background-color:#F2FAFF"><br /><br /><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>  <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="6710025936" data-ad-format="auto"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></td></tr></table><br /><br /><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>  <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="6710025936" data-ad-format="auto"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/botmenubhnm2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe><div align="center"><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span></div></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>