¹⁷Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En Rogel. They did not want to be seen going into the city, so a servant girl would go out to them and give them messages. Then Jonathan and Ahimaaz would go and tell King David.

¹⁸But a boy saw Jonathan and Ahimaaz and told Absalom. So Jonathan and Ahimaaz left quickly and went to a man’s house in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. ¹⁹The man’s wife spread a sheet over the opening of the well and covered it with grain. No one could tell that anyone was hiding there.

²⁰Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

She said to them, “They have already crossed the brook.”

Absalom’s servants then went to look for Jonathan and Ahimaaz, but they could not find them. So they went back to Jerusalem.

²¹After Absalom’s servants left, Jonathan and Ahimaaz climbed out of the well and went to tell King David. They said, “Hurry, cross over the river! Ahithophel has said these things against you!” ²²So David and all his people crossed the Jordan River. By dawn, everyone had crossed the Jordan.

²³When Ahithophel saw that the Israelites did not accept his advice, he saddled his donkey and went to his hometown. He left orders for his family and property, and then he hanged himself. He died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

War Between David and Absalom

²⁴David arrived at Mahanaim. And Absalom and all his Israelites crossed over the Jordan River. ²⁵Absalom had made Amasa captain of the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Jether the Ishmaelite. Amasa’s mother was Abigail daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ²⁶Absalom and the Israelites camped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷Shobi, Makir, and Barzillai were at Mahanaim when David arrived. Shobi son of Nahash was from the Ammonite town of Rabbah. Makir son of Ammiel was from Lo Debar, and Barzillai was from Rogelim in Gilead. ²⁸They brought beds, bowls, clay pots, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, small peas, ²⁹honey, milk curds, sheep, and cheese made from cows’ milk for David and his people. They said, “The people are hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert.”

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