1 And Ahithophel {achitophel: counselor strategist} said to Absalom, “Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and let me arise and pursue after David tonight {halailah: period of darkness}.”
2 And I will come upon him when he is weary and weak-handed {yadayim: lacking strength}, and I will startle him {hacharadti: instill terror}, and all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike the king alone.
3 And I will bring back all the people to you; when the man whom you seek returns {kešuv: conditional return}, all the people will be at peace {shalom: complete well-being}.
4 The plan was pleasing in the eyes of Absalom{Avshalom: father of peace} and in the eyes of all the elders{ziknei: community leaders} of Israel.
5 And Absalom {Avshalom: my father is peace} said, “Call Hushai the Archite {haArqi: member of the Archite clan} also, and let us hear what is in his mouth.”
6 And Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “As Ahithophel {Achitophel: David’s counselor} has spoken this word {devar: counsel proposal}, shall we act upon it? If not, you speak.”
7 And Hushai said to Absalom, “The advice {etsah: strategic counsel} Ahithophel has offered on this occasion {bapaam hazot: specific occasion} is not good.”
8 And Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, for they are mighty men and embittered of soul {nefesh: fierce resolve}, like a bear bereaved in the field. And your father is a man of war {milchamah: seasoned fighter}, and he will not spend the night with the people.”
9 Behold, now he is hiding in one of the pits {pechatim: natural depressions} or in one of the places, and it will be, when some of them fall at the beginning, that whoever hears will say, “A slaughter {magefa: major loss} has occurred among the people who follow Absalom.”
10 Then even the man of valor {ben-chayil: proven warrior}, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will surely melt away; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man {gibbor: heroic warrior}, and that the sons of valor who are with him.
11 For I have advised that all Israel be assembled to you—from Dan even to Beersheba—as numerous as the sand {chol: innumerable grains} on the seashore for a multitude; and you yourself {panim: personal presence} shall go into battle.
12 And we will come upon him in one of the places where he is found, and we will fall on him like dew {hatal: morning moisture} falls upon the ground, and there will not be left in him or among all the men who are with him even one {gam-echad: not a single survivor}.
13 And if he withdraws {yeasef: seeks refuge} into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down to the stream until not even a pebble {tseor: small stone} is found there.
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel {atsat: Royal Counsel} of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” The LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Disposer} commanded the frustration of Ahithophel’s good counsel in order to bring disaster upon Absalom.
15 And Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests {hakohanim: religious leaders}, “Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do such and such {kazot vekazot: unspecified advice}, but I have advised them to do so and so.”
16 And now send quickly and tell David, saying, “Do not lodge tonight at the wilderness crossings {arvot: Jordan-region steppes/crossing area}, but cross over at once, lest the king {melekh: sovereign ruler} and all the people with him be swallowed up.”
17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were standing at En-Rogel {ein-rogel: Spring of Rogel}, and the maidservant {shifchah: female household servant} went and reported it to them; then they were to go and report it to King David, for they could not be seen coming into the city.
18 A young man saw them and told Absalom. Then the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim; he had a well {be’er: stone-lined pit} in his courtyard {ḥaṣēr: walled enclosure}, and they went down there.
19 Then the woman took and spread the covering {masakh: woven cloth used to conceal} over the mouth of the well and scattered the grain {rifot: harvested cereals} upon it, and nothing was known about the matter.
20 And the servants of Absalom came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have crossed over {avru: passed across} the water.” They searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: central city of Israel’s kingship}.
21 And it came to pass after they had gone that they came up from the well, went, and reported to King David. They said to David, “Arise {kumu: urgent command} and cross quickly over the water, for thus Ahithophel {Ahithophel: trusted counselor} has given counsel against you.”
22 Then David {dawid: anointed leader} and all the people who were with him arose and crossed the Jordan until the first light of morning. Not one remained who had not crossed the Jordan {yarden: strategic river crossing}.
23 And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, so he saddled the donkey, returned to his house in his city, gave orders to his household {beito: his family members}, hanged himself, died, and was buried in the grave {kever: ancestral tomb} of his father.
24 And David came to Mahanaim {mahanayim: double camps}, and Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and every man {kol: entire contingent} of Israel with him.
25 And Absalom appointed Amasa {amasah: military commander} in place of Joab over the army. Amasa was the son of a man named Yithra the Israelite, who came to Abigail {avigal: familial link}, the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.
26 Then Israel and Absalom camped {chana: set up a military camp} in the land of Gilead {Gilad: region of rolling hills east of the Jordan}.
27 And it happened when David {dāwīd: anointed king} came to Mahanaim {maḥānāyim: double camp}, that Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim were there.
28 Bedding and bowls {sappot: serving dishes} and a potter’s vessel {keli yotser: artisan container}, and wheat and barley, and flour and parched grain, and beans and lentils and parched pulse.
29 And honey and curds {chemah: coagulated dairy} and sheep and cheeses of cattle they brought to David {Dawid: leader in exile} and to the people who were with him to eat, because they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”