The counsel of Ahithophel and Hushai
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2Sa 17:1: Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:
2Sa 17:2: 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:
2Sa 17:3: And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.
2Sa 17:4: And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
2Sa 17:5: Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.
2Sa 17:6: And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.
2Sa 17:7: And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.
2Sa 17:8: For, said Hushai, 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.
2Sa 17:9: Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
2Sa 17:10: And he also 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.
2Sa 17:11: Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered 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.
2Sa 17:12: 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 there shall not be left so much as one.
2Sa 17:13: 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.
2Sa 17:14: And 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 appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.