# 2 Samuel 17

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/2-samuel/17

Translated from Hebrew and Greek with AI, then checked for clarity and fidelity.

1. Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will rise up and chase after David tonight."
2. I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and I will terrify him, so all the people with him will flee; I will strike the king alone.
3. I will bring all the people back to you. The man you seek is as if all returned; all the people will be at peace.
4. The proposal seemed good to Absalom and all Israel's elders.
5. Absalom said, "Call Hushai the Archite now too, and let us hear likewise what he has to say."
6. Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, "Ahithophel has spoken this word. Shall we carry out his word? If not, you speak."
7. Hushai said to Absalom, "The advice that Ahithophel gave on this occasion is not good."
8. Hushai said, "You know your father and his men, for they are valiant fighters embittered in soul like a bear robbed of her young in the open field, and your father is a man of battle who will not stay with the people."
9. See, now he is hiding in one of the pits or in one of the places. When some of them fall at first, whoever hears will say, “A slaughter has struck the people who follow Absalom.”
10. Even a man of valor whose heart is like the heart of a lion will utterly melt, because all Israel knows your father is a mighty warrior and those with him are men of valor.
11. For I advise assembling all Israel to you from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand beside the sea in vast numbers, and you yourself advancing into battle.
12. We will come to him in one of the places where he is found there, and we will fall upon him as the dew falls on the ground, with none left of him or of all the men who are with him—not even one.
13. If he withdraws into a city, all Israel will carry ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the river until not even a small stone is found there.
14. Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "Hushai the Archite's counsel is better than Ahithophel's counsel." For Yahweh had decreed to thwart Ahithophel's good counsel, so that Yahweh would bring calamity on Absalom.
15. Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, "Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel in this manner, and I have advised in this manner."
16. So now send quickly and tell David, “Do not stay the night in the wilderness plains, but certainly cross over, lest the king be devoured, and all the people who are with him.”
17. Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed at En-rogel, and the maidservant would go and tell them; they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city.
18. A boy saw them and told Absalom, yet both hurried off and arrived at a man's house in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down there.
19. The woman took the covering and spread it over the well's mouth, then spread ground grain over it; nothing was known.
20. Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” She said to them, “They crossed the brook of water.” They searched but did not find them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21. After they had gone, they came up from the well, went, and informed King David. They said to David, "Arise and cross the waters quickly, for thus has Ahithophel advised against you."
22. David arose with all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan until the morning light, by which time not one remained who had not crossed the Jordan.
23. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not carried out, he saddled the donkey, arose, went to his house in his city, commanded his household, strangled himself, died, and was buried in his father's grave.
24. David came to Mahanaim. Absalom crossed the Jordan—he and all the men of Israel with him.
25. Absalom put Amasa in command of the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man called Ithra the Israelite, who came to Abigail daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah mother of Joab.
26. Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
27. When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,
28. They brought beds, bowls, clay vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, and parched grain.
29. They brought honey, butter, sheep, and cheese from cattle to David and the people who were with him to eat, for they said, "The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness."

## Nearby chapters

[2 Samuel 16](https://www.lumin.faith/read/2-samuel/16.md)
[2 Samuel 18](https://www.lumin.faith/read/2-samuel/18.md)

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