2 Samuel 17: Ahithophel's counsel, Hushai's counsel, and David crosses the Jordan

In plain English: Ahithophel also said to Absalom, "Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and chase David tonight.

In plain English: I will come on him while he is weary and weak (literally: slack of hands), and I will frighten him. All the people with him will run away, and I will strike down the king alone.

In plain English: Then I will bring all the people back to you. The man you are after is as good as the return of them all (the Hebrew here is hard: see the note), and all the people will be at peace."

Good to know: The Hebrew of the middle of this verse is short and hard. Word for word it reads: "as the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking". This Bible has "The man whom you seek is as if all returned": if only David dies, it is as if all the people came back. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has a longer text: "as a bride returns to her husband: only thou seekest the life of one man". Either way, Ahithophel's plan is to strike the king alone (verse 2) and bring the people back in peace.

In plain English: The plan pleased (literally: was right in the eyes of) Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

In plain English: Then Absalom said, "Call Hushai the Archite too, and let us hear what he has to say as well."

In plain English: When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, "This is what Ahithophel has said. Should we do what he says? If not, you speak."

In plain English: Hushai said to Absalom, "The counsel Ahithophel has given this time is not good."

In plain English: Hushai also said, "You know your father and his men: they are mighty men, and they are fierce (literally: bitter of soul), like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and he will not spend the night with the people.

In plain English: Look, by now he is hidden in one of the pits (or: ravines), or in some other place. When some of them fall at the start, whoever hears of it will say, 'There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom!'

In plain English: Then even the brave man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and the men with him are brave.

In plain English: So my counsel is this: let all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as many as the sand by the sea, and you yourself go into the battle (literally: your face going into the battle).

In plain English: Then we will come on him in whatever place he is found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground. Not one will be left, of him or of all the men with him.

In plain English: And if he goes into a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down into the valley (or: the stream; this Bible: river), until not even a small stone is found there."

In plain English: Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For Yahweh had ordained (literally: commanded) that the good counsel of Ahithophel be defeated, so that Yahweh might bring evil (or: disaster) on Absalom.

The Hebrew word: "Ordained" is tsavah, which this Bible says "command" or a longer form in 443 of the 474 verses that use it, and "ordained" in only 2. So the verse can read "Yahweh had commanded" that the good counsel be defeated.

Good to know: These are the narrator's words, not words Yahweh is heard to speak. The narrator calls Ahithophel's counsel "good" and says why it failed. In 15:31, when David heard that Ahithophel was with Absalom, he prayed, "Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness."

In plain English: Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, "Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel like this and like this, and I have counseled like this and like this.

In plain English: So now send quickly and tell David, 'Do not spend tonight at the fords (or: the plains) of the wilderness, but be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him will be swallowed up.'"

The Hebrew word: "The fords of the wilderness" is, as the Hebrew is written here, arvot hammidbar, "the plains of the wilderness". Aravah is the dictionary's "a desert; especially ... the (generally) sterile valley of the Jordan". In 15:28 David said he would wait "at the fords of the wilderness", and there the Hebrew has avarah, "a crossing-place", a word that looks almost the same. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "Araboth of the wilderness" here.

What changes: Read as "the fords", David is not to stay the night at the river crossing. Read as "the plains", he is not to stay in the open desert by the Jordan. Either way, Hushai's message is the same: cross over tonight.

In plain English: Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel. A servant girl would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, because they could not be seen coming into the city.

In plain English: But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it.

In plain English: The woman took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the well, and spread crushed grain on it, so nothing was known.

In plain English: Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house and said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said to them, "They have gone over the brook of water (the Hebrew word is found only here: see the note)." They searched but could not find them, so they went back to Jerusalem.

The Hebrew word: "The brook" is mikhal, which the dictionary gives as "properly, a container, i.e. a streamlet". It is in only this verse of the Bible, so its meaning is not sure. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "They are gone a little way beyond the water".

In plain English: After they had gone, the two men came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, "Get up and cross the water quickly, because this is what Ahithophel has counseled against you."

In plain English: Then David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By the light of morning not one of them was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

In plain English: When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, got up and went home to his own city. He put his house in order (literally: gave orders to his household), and he hanged himself. He died and was buried in his father's tomb.

In plain English: Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

In plain English: Absalom had put Amasa over the army in Joab's place. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite, who had gone in to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

Good to know: 1 Chronicles 2:16 and 2:17 list Zeruiah and Abigail as the sisters of Jesse's sons, and say: "Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite." Here the Hebrew calls him Ithra "the Israelite" and Abigail "the daughter of Nahash". The dictionary gives Ithra as "an Israelite (or Ishmaelite)". The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "Jether of Jezrael". The text does not say how these fit together.

In plain English: Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

In plain English: When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim,

Good to know: In 9:4 Mephibosheth was living "in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar". 10:1 and 10:2 tell of the death of the king of the Ammonites, Nahash, who had shown kindness to David. The text here does not say more about Shobi. Barzillai comes back in 19:31 to 19:39.

In plain English: brought beds, basins, clay pots, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils and roasted grain (the Hebrew names roasted grain twice),

In plain English: honey, curds (this Bible: butter), sheep, and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat. For they said, "The people are hungry, tired and thirsty in the wilderness."