2 Samuel 17:17–29

¹⁷And Jonathan and Ahimaaz are standing at En-Rogel, and the maid-servant hath gone and declared to them—and they go and have declared it to king David—for they are not able to be seen to go in to the city. ¹⁸And a youth seeth them, and declareth to Absalom; and they go on both of them hastily, and come in unto the house of a man in Bahurim, and he hath a well in his court, and they go down there, ¹⁹and the woman taketh and spreadeth the covering over the face of the well, and spreadeth on it the ground corn, and the thing hath not been known. ²⁰And the servants of Absalom come in unto the woman to the house, and say, ‘Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?’ and the woman saith to them, ‘They passed over the brook of water;’ and they seek, and have not found, and turn back to Jerusalem. ²¹And it cometh to pass, after their going on, that they come up out of the well, and go and declare to king David, and say unto David, ‘Rise ye, and pass over hastily the waters, for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.’

²²And David riseth, and all the people who are with him, and they pass over the Jordan, till the light of the morning, till one hath not been lacking who hath not passed over the Jordan. ²³And Ahithophel hath seen that his counsel was not done, and he saddleth the ass, and riseth and goeth unto his house, unto his city, and giveth charge unto his household, and strangleth himself, and dieth, and he is buried in the burying-place of his father. ²⁴And David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him; ²⁵and Amasa hath Absalom set instead of Joab over the host, and Amasa is a man’s son whose name is Ithra the Israelite who hath gone in unto Abigail, daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, mother of Joab; ²⁶and Israel encampeth with Absalom in the land of Gilead. ²⁷And it cometh to pass at the coming in of David to Mahanaim, that Shobi, son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the Bene-Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel, from Lo-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim, ²⁸couch, and basin, and earthen vessel, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and roasted corn, and beans, and lentiles, and roasted pulse, ²⁹and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, have brought nigh for David, and for the people who are with him to eat, for they said, ‘Thy people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.’

Chapter 18