2Sa 17, 2Sa 21 | ESV | STEP | Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom , Let me choose twelve thousand men , and I will arise and pursue David tonight .

2 Samuel 17

Hushai Saves David

1 Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is ^aweary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. ^bI will strike down only the king, 3 and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew back to you. Like the return of the whole is the man whom you seek} and all the people will be at peace.” 4 And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

5 Then Absalom said, “Call ^dHushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” 6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.” 7 Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, ^{▼▼Hebrew bitter of soul} ^flike a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. 9 Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall ^{▼▼Or And as he falls on them} at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ 10 Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly ^hmelt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. 11 But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, ⁱfrom Dan to Beersheba, ^jas the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. 12 So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. 13 If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.” 14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” ^kFor the Lord had ordained ^{▼▼Hebrew commanded} to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

15 ^mThen Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. 16 Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at ⁿthe fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be ^oswallowed up.’” 17 Now ^pJonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at ^qEn-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city. 18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at ^rBahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it. 19 ^sAnd the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. 20 When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain} of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21 After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, ^u“Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.” 22 Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to ^vhis own city. He ^wset his house in order and ^xhanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

24 Then David came to ^yMahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. 25 Now Absalom had set ^zAmasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, ^{▼▼Compare 1 Chronicles 2:17; Hebrew Israelite} who had married Abigal the daughter of ^abNahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26 And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

27 When David came to Mahanaim, ^acShobi the son of Nahash from ^adRabbah of the Ammonites, and ^aeMachir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and ^afBarzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 28 brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils, ^{▼▼Hebrew adds and parched grain} 29 honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and ^ahweary and thirsty ^aiin the wilderness.”

2 Samuel 21

David Avenges the Gibeonites

1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David ^ajsought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but ^akof the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless ^althe heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at ^amGibeah of Saul, ^anthe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of ^aothe oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 The king took the two sons of ^apRizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab ^{▼▼Two Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts Michal} the daughter of Saul, whom ^arshe bore to ^asAdriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, ^atat the beginning of barley harvest.

10 ^auThen Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11 When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, ^avwho had stolen them from the public square of ^awBeth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in ^axZela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that ^ayGod responded to the plea for the land.

War with the Philistines

15 There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16 And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants ^azof the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels ^{▼▼A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams} of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, ^bb“You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench ^bcthe lamp of Israel.”

18 ^bdAfter this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then ^beSibbecai ^bfthe Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants ^bgof the giants. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and ^bhElhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, ^bithe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ^{▼▼Contrast 1 Chronicles 20:5, which may preserve the original reading} 20 And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended ^bkfrom the giants. 21 And when ^blhe taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. 22 These four were descended ^bmfrom the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.