2 Samuel 17:17–29

¹⁷Jonathan^x and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel.^y A female servant was to go and inform them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they could not risk being seen entering the city. ¹⁸But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left at once and went to the house of a man in Bahurim.^z He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. ¹⁹His wife took a covering and spread it out over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it. No one knew anything about it.^a

²⁰When Absalom’s men came to the woman^b at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

The woman answered them, “They crossed over the brook.”^c The men searched but found no one, so they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹After they had gone, the two climbed out of the well and went to inform King David. They said to him, “Set out and cross the river at once; Ahithophel has advised such and such against you.” ²²So David and all the people with him set out and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, no one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³When Ahithophel saw that his advice^c had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order^d and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

Absalom’s Death

²⁴David went to Mahanaim,^e and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵Absalom had appointed Amasa^f over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of Jether,^dg an Ishmaelite^e who had married Abigal, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab. ²⁶The Israelites and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash^h from Rabbahⁱ of the Ammonites, and Makir^j son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai^k the Gileadite^l from Rogelim ²⁸brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils,^{f 29}honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat.^m For they said, “The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.ⁿ”