^16:1When David had gone a short way beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit,¹ and a container of wine.

^16:2The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?”² Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread³ and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.”⁴^16:3The king asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?”⁵ Ziba replied to the king, “He remains in Jerusalem,⁶ for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give back to me my grandfather’s⁷ kingdom.’ ” ^16:4The king said to Ziba, “Everything that was Mephibosheth’s now belongs to you.” Ziba replied, “I bow before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

Shimei Curses David and His Men

^16:5Then King David reached⁸ Bahurim. There a man from Saul’s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached.⁹^16:6He threw stones at David and all of King David’s servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left. ^16:7As he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Leave! Leave! You man of bloodshed, you wicked man!¹⁰^16:8The Lord has punished you for¹¹ all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!”

^16:9Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!” ^16:10But the king said, “What do we have in common,¹² you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this?’ ” ^16:11Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood,¹³ is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him. ^16:12Perhaps the Lord will notice my affliction¹⁴ and this day grant me good in place of his curse.”¹⁵

^16:13So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them.¹⁶^16:14The king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted at their destination, where David¹⁷ refreshed himself.

The Advice of Ahithophel

^16:15Now when Absalom and all the men¹⁸ of Israel arrived in Jerusalem,¹⁹ Ahithophel was with him. ^16:16When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him,²⁰ “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

^16:17Absalom said to Hushai, “Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” ^16:18Hushai replied to Absalom, “No, I will be loyal to the one whom the Lord, these people, and all the men of Israel have chosen.²¹^16:19Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.”²²

^16:20Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?” ^16:21Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with²³ your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.”²⁴^16:22So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof,²⁵ and Absalom had sex with²⁶ his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

^16:23In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation.²⁷ Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel.²⁸

The Death of Ahithophel

^17:1Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. ^17:2When I catch up with¹ him he will be exhausted and worn out.² I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king ^17:3and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone.³ The entire army will return unharmed.”⁴

^17:4This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders⁵ of Israel. ^17:5But Absalom said, “Call for⁶ Hushai the Arkite, and let’s hear what he has to say.”⁷^17:6So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?”

^17:7Hushai replied to Absalom, “Ahithophel’s advice is not sound this time.”⁸^17:8Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men—they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs.⁹ Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army. ^17:9At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first,¹⁰ whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’ ^17:10If that happens even the bravest soldier—one who is lion-hearted—will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave. ^17:11My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba—in number like the sand by the sea!—be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle. ^17:12We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive—not one of them! ^17:13If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”

^17:14Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided¹¹ to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

^17:15Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders¹² of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised. ^17:16Now send word quickly to David and warn him,¹³ “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert¹⁴ tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over,¹⁵ or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.”¹⁶

^17:17Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city. ^17:18But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it. ^17:19His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done.

^17:20When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men¹⁷ searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.¹⁸

^17:21After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan¹⁹ climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream²⁰ quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.”²¹^17:22So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River.²² By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

^17:23When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave²³ of his father.

^17:24Meanwhile David had gone to Mahanaim, while Absalom and all the men of Israel had crossed the Jordan River. ^17:25Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married²⁴ Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.) ^17:26The army of Israel²⁵ and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

^17:27When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim ^17:28brought bedding, basins, and pottery utensils. They also brought food for David and all who were with him, including wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils,²⁶^17:29honey, curds, flocks, and cheese.²⁷ For they said, “The people are no doubt hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the desert.”²⁸

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Footnotes

1 Heb “a hundred summer fruit.”
2 Heb “What are these to you?”
3 The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew in reading וְהַלֶּחֶם (véhallekhem, “and the bread”) rather than וּלְהַלֶּחֶם (uléhallekhem, “and to the bread”) of the Kethib. The syntax of the is confused here by the needless repetition of the preposition, probably taken from the preceding word.
4 The Hebrew text adds “to drink.”
5 Heb “son.”
6 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
7 Heb “my father’s.”
8 Heb “came to.” The form of the verb in the is odd. Some prefer to read וַיַּבֹא (vayyavo’), preterite with vav consecutive) rather than וּבָא (uva’), apparently perfect with vav), but this is probably an instance where the narrative offline véqatal construction introduces a new scene.
9 Heb “And look, from there a man was coming out from the clan of the house of Saul and his name was Shimei son of Gera, continually going out and cursing.”
10 Heb “man of worthlessness.”
11 Heb “has brought back upon you.”
12 Heb “What to me and to you?”
13 Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.
14 The Hebrew text is difficult here. It is probably preferable to read with the , the , and בְּעוֹנִי (bé’onyi, “on my affliction”) rather than the Kethib of the בָּעַוֹנִי (ba’avoni, “on my wrongdoing”). While this Kethib reading is understandable as an objective genitive (i.e., “the wrong perpetrated upon me”), it does not conform to normal Hebrew idiom for this idea. The Qere of the בְּעֵינֵי (bé’eni, “on my eyes”), usually taken as synecdoche to mean “my tears,” does not commend itself as a likely meaning. The Hebrew word is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.”
15 Heb “and the Lord will restore to me good in place of his curse this day.”
16 Heb “and he cursed and threw stones, opposite him, pelting [them] with dirt.” The offline véqatal construction in the last clause indicates an action that was complementary to the action described in the preceding clause. He simultaneously threw stones and dirt.
17 Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 Heb “and all the people, the men of Israel.”
19 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
20 Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
21 Heb “No for with the one whom the Lord has chosen, and this people, and all the men of Israel, I will be and with him I will stay.” The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew in reading לוֹ (lo, “[I will be] to him”) rather than the לֹא (lo’, “[I will] not be”), which makes very little sense here.
22 Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”
23 Heb “go to”; “have (+ sexual ) relations with”; “have intercourse with”; “Go and sleep with.”
24 Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
25 That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.
26 Heb “went to”; “he visited his father’s concubines”; “lay with his father’s concubines”; “went in and had intercourse with.”
27 Heb “And the advice of Ahithophel which he advised in those days was as when one inquires of the word of God.”
28 Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”
1 Heb “and I will come upon him.”
2 Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”
3 Heb “like the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking.” The reads differently: “And I will return all the people to you the way a bride returns to her husband, except for the life of the one man whom you are seeking.” The other early versions also struggled with this verse. Modern translations are divided as well: the , , , and follow the , while the and follow the Hebrew text.
4 Heb “all of the people will be safe.”
5 Heb “elders.”
6 In the the verb is singular, but in the , the , and it is plural.
7 Heb “what is in his mouth.”
8 Heb “Not good is the advice which Ahithophel has advised at this time.”
9 The (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”
10 Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”
11 Heb “commanded.”
12 Heb “elders.”
13 Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”
14 Or “wilderness” (so , , , ).
15 That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”
16 Heb “swallowed up.”
17 Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
19 Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 Heb “the water.”
21 Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1–3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.
22 The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
23 The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”
24 Heb “come to.”
25 Heb “and Israel.”
26 The adds “roasted grain” וְקָלִי (véqali) at the end of v. 28, apparently accidentally repeating the word from its earlier occurrence in this verse. With the , the , and an Old Latin the translation deletes this second occurrence of the word.
27 Heb “cheese of the herd,” probably referring to cheese from cow’s milk (rather than goat’s milk).
28 Or “wilderness” (so , , , , ).