¹And when David was a little past the summit, behold, Ziba, Mephibosheth’s servant, met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred raisin-cakes, and a hundred cakes of summer fruits, and a flask of wine. ²And the king said to Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses are for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruits for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as are faint in the wilderness may drink. ³And the king said, And where is thy master’s son? And Ziba said to the king, Behold, he abides at Jerusalem; for he said, To-day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. ⁴And the king said to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained to Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly bow myself: may I find favour in thy sight, my lord, O king.

⁵And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from thence a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed, ⁶and cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David; and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷And thus said Shimei as he cursed: Away, away, thou man of blood and man of Belial! ⁸Jehovah has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and Jehovah has given the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son; and behold, thou art taken in thine own evil, for thou art a man of blood. ⁹And Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. ¹⁰And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, for Jehovah has said to him, Curse David! Who shall then say, Why dost thou so? ¹¹And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who came forth of my bowels, seeks my life: how much more now a Benjaminite? let him alone and let him curse; for Jehovah has bidden him. ¹²It may be that Jehovah will look on mine affliction, and that Jehovah will requite me good for my being cursed this day. ¹³And David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hill’s side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. ¹⁴And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.

¹⁵Now Absalom, and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. ¹⁶And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, Long live the king! Long live the king! ¹⁷And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy kindness to thy friend? why didst thou not go with thy friend? ¹⁸And Hushai said to Absalom, No; but whom Jehovah, and this people, and all the men of Israel choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide. ¹⁹And again, whom should I serve? should it not be in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father’s presence, so will I be in thy presence. ²⁰And Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do. ²¹And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to thy father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art become odious with thy father; and the hands of all that are with thee shall be strong. ²²So they spread a tent for Absalom upon the roof; and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. ²³And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had inquired of the word of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

Chapter 17

¹And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me, I pray, choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David to-night; ²and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only; ³and I will bring back all the people to thee. The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: all the people shall be in peace. ⁴And the saying was right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. ⁵And Absalom said, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and we will hear also what he says. ⁶And Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner: shall we carry out his word? If not, speak thou. ⁷And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good. ⁸And Hushai said, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are of exasperated spirit, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field; and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. ⁹Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or some such place; and it will come to pass, when some of them fall at the first, whoever heareth it will say, There has been slaughter among the people that follow Absalom, ¹⁰and even the valiant man whose heart is as the heart of a lion shall utterly melt; for all Israel knows that thy father is a mighty man, and they that are with him are valiant men. ¹¹But I counsel that all Israel be speedily gathered to thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. ¹²And we shall come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. ¹³And if he withdraw into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the torrent, until there be not one small stone found there. ¹⁴And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. And Jehovah had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, in order that Jehovah might bring evil upon Absalom.

¹⁵And Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled. ¹⁶And now send quickly, and tell David saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him. ¹⁷And Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; and the maid went and told them; and they went and told king David, for they might not be seen to come into the city. ¹⁸But a lad saw them, and told Absalom. Then they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. ¹⁹And the woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn on it; and the thing was not known. ²⁰And Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house, and said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And they sought and could not find them, and returned to Jerusalem. ²¹And it came to pass after they had departed, that 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.

²²Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan; by the morning light there was not one of them missing that had not gone over the Jordan. ²³And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose and went to his house, to his city, and gave charge to his household, and hanged himself, and he died; and he was buried in the sepulchre of his father. ²⁴And David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵And Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab; which Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Jithra the Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ²⁶And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. ²⁷And as soon as David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, ²⁸brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, ²⁹and honey, and cream, and sheep, and cheese of kine to David, and to the people that were with him, to eat; for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.

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