And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, "Let me now choose out twelve thousand
men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: and 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: and I will bring back all the people unto thee: so all the
people shall be in peace."
And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
Then said Absalom unto Hushai, "Ahithophel hath spoken after this
manner: shall we do after his saying? if not, speak thou."
And Hushai said unto Absalom, "The counsel that Ahithophel hath given
this time is not good. Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be
mighty men, and they be chafed 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. Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other
place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be fallen at the
first, that whosoever heareth it will say, 'There is a slaughter among
the people that follow Absalom.' And even he that is valiant, whose
heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel
knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are
valiant men. But 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. So 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. Moreover, if he be
gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and
we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found
there."
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai is
better than the counsel of Ahithophel."
Then 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. Now therefore send quickly, and tell David,
saying, 'Lodge not this night at the fords of the wilderness, but in any
wise pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that
are with him.'"
Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed
over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was
not gone over Jordan. And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not
followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home, unto his
city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and
was buried in the sepulchre of his father.