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said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto 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, because the Lord hath said unto him: Curse David; who then shall say: Wherefore hast thou done so?' ¹¹And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants: 'Behold, my son, who came forth of my body, seeketh my life; how much more this Benjamite now? let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him. ¹²It may be that the Lord will look on mine eye, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing of me this day.' ¹³So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hill-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 he refreshed himself there.

      ¹⁵And 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, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom: 'Long live the king, long live the king.' ¹⁷And Absalom said to Hushai: 'Is this thy kindness to thy friend? why wentest thou not with thy friend?' ¹⁸And Hushai said unto Absalom: 'Nay; but whom the Lord, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his will I be, and with him will I abide. ¹⁹And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.'

      ²⁰Then said Absalom to Ahithophel: 'Give your counsel what we shall do.' ²¹And Ahithophel said unto Absalom: 'Go in unto thy father's concubines, that he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; then will the hands of all that are with thee be strong.' ²²So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.—²³Now the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man inquired of the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

      17Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom: 'Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this 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 unto thee; when all shall have returned, [save] the man whom thou seekest, all the people will be in peace.' ⁴And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

      ⁵Then said Absalom: 'Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.' ⁶And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spoke unto him, saying: 'Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner; shall we do after his saying? if not, speak thou.' ⁷And Hushai said unto Absalom: 'The counsel that Ahithophel hath given this time is not good.' ⁸Hushai said moreover: 'Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are embittered in their minds, 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 in some place; and it will come to pass, when they fall upon them at the first, and whosoever heareth it shall say: There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom; ¹⁰then even he that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they that are with him are valiant men. ¹¹But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together unto 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. ¹²So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground; and of him and of all the men that are with him we will not leave so much as one. ¹³Moreover, if he withdraw himself into a city, then shall all Israel bring up ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the valley 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.'—For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

      ¹⁵Then said Hushai unto 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. ¹⁶Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying: Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but in any wise pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.' ¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell 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; and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down thither. ¹⁹And the woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and strewed groats thereon; and nothing was known. ²⁰And Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house; and they said: 'Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?' And the woman said unto them: 'They are gone over the brook of water.' And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

      ²¹And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said unto David: 'Arise ye, and pass quickly over the water; for thus hath 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 lacked not one of them that was not gone over the Jordan.

      ²³And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and got him home, unto his city, and set his house in order, and strangled himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

      ²⁴When David was come to Mahanaim, Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵And Absalom had set Amasa over the host instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Jesraelite, that went in to Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother. ²⁶And Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.

      ²⁷And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that 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 basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, ²⁹and honey, and curd, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat; for they said: 'The people is hungry, and faint, and thirsty, in the wilderness.'

      18And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. ²And David sent forth the people, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people: 'I will surely go forth with you myself also.' ³But the people said: 'Thou shalt not go forth; for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us; but thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou be ready to succour us out of the city.' ⁴And the king said unto them: 'What seemeth you best I will do.' And the king stood by the gate-side, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. ⁵And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying: 'Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom.' And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.

      ⁶So the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷And the people of Israel were smitten there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. ⁸For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

      ⁹And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David. And Absalom was riding upon his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth, and his

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