robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. 9 Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter amongst the people who follow Absalom!’ 10 Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. 11 But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person. 12 So we will come on him in some place where he will be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground, then we will not leave so much as one of him and of all the men who are with him. 13 Moreover, if he has gone into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn’t one small stone found there.”
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil on Absalom.
15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel counselled Absalom and the elders of Israel that way; and I have counselled this way. 16 Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, ‘Don’t lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.’ ”
17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and report to them, and they went and told King David; for they couldn’t risk being seen coming into the city. 18 But a boy saw them, and told Absalom. Then they both went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. 19 The woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread out crushed grain on it; and nothing was known. 20 Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
The woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.”
When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. 21 After they had departed, they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David, “Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counselled against you.”
22 Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home to his city, set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.
24 Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26 Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
27 When David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, 28 brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans, lentils, roasted grain, 29 honey, butter, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.”
18
1 David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 David sent the people out, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, “I will also surely go out with you myself.”
3 But the people said, “You shall not go out, for if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.”
4 The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.”
The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom.
6 So the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. 7 The people of Israel were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. 8 For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
9 Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak; and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was hanging between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on. 10 A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”
11 Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a sash.”
12 The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’ 13 Otherwise, if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.”
14 Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand and thrust them through Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the middle of the oak. 15 Ten young men who bore Joab’s armour surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him. 16 Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back. 17 They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent.
18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom’s monument, to this day.
19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.”
20 Joab said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.”
21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen!” The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.
22 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite.”
Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since you will have no reward for the news?”
23 “But come what may,” he said, “I will run.”
He said to him, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
24 Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. 25 The watchman shouted and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer.
26 The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, a man running alone!”
The king said, “He also brings news.”
27 The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.”
The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”
28 Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself