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Hushai's
Counsel |
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2 Samuel 17:1
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Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please
let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. |
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2 Samuel 17:2 |
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I will come upon him while he is weary and
exhausted and terrify him, so that all the people who are with him will flee.
Then I will strike down the king alone, |
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2 Samuel 17:3 |
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and I will bring back all the people to you.
The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be
at peace." |
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2 Samuel 17:4 |
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So the plan pleased Absalom and all the elders
of Israel. |
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2 Samuel 17:5 |
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Then Absalom said, "Now call Hushai the Archite
also, and let us hear what he has to say." |
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2 Samuel 17:6 |
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When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said
to him, "Ahithophel has spoken thus. Shall we carry out his plan? If not, you
speak." |
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2 Samuel 17:7 |
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So Hushai said to Absalom, "This time the advice
that Ahithophel has given is not good." |
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2 Samuel 17:8 |
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Moreover, Hushai said, "You know your father
and his men, that they are mighty men and they are fierce, like a bear robbed
of her cubs in the field. And your father is an expert in warfare, and will not
spend the night with the people. |
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2 Samuel 17:9 |
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Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of
the caves or in another place; and it will be when he falls on them at the first
attack, that whoever hears it will say, 'There has been a slaughter among the
people who follow Absalom.' |
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2 Samuel 17:10 |
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And even the one who is valiant, whose heart
is like the heart of a lion, will completely lose heart; for all Israel knows
that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men. |
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2 Samuel 17:11 |
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But I counsel that all Israel be surely gathered
to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea in abundance,
and that you personally go into battle. |
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2 Samuel 17:12 |
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So we shall come to him in one of the places
where he can be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground;
and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be left. |
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2 Samuel 17:13 |
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If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel
shall bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the valley until not
even a small stone is found there." |
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2 Samuel 17:14 |
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Then 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 thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the
LORD might bring calamity on Absalom. |
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Hushai's
Warning Saves David |
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2 Samuel 17:15 |
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Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the
priests, "This is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel,
and this is what I have counseled. |
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2 Samuel 17:16 |
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Now therefore, send quickly and tell David,
saying, 'Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means
cross over, or else the king and all the people who are with him will be destroyed.'" |
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2 Samuel 17:17 |
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Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel,
and a maidservant would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David,
for they could not be seen entering the city. |
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2 Samuel 17:18 |
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But a lad did see them and told Absalom; so
the two of them departed quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who
had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. |
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2 Samuel 17:19 |
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And the woman took a covering and spread it
over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, so that nothing was known. |
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2 Samuel 17:20 |
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Then Absalom's servants came to the woman at
the house and said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And the woman said to them,
"They have crossed the brook of water." And when they searched and could not find
them, they returned to Jerusalem. |
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2 Samuel 17:21 |
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It came about after they had departed that
they came up out of the well and went and told King David; and they said to David,
"Arise and cross over the water quickly for thus Ahithophel has counseled against
you." |
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2 Samuel 17:22 |
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Then David and all the people who were with
him arose and crossed the Jordan; and by dawn not even one remained who had not
crossed the Jordan. |
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2 Samuel 17:23 |
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Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was
not followed, he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to his city,
and set his house in order, and strangled himself; thus he died and was buried
in the grave of his father. |
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2 Samuel 17:24 |
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Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed
the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. |
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2 Samuel 17:25 |
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Absalom set Amasa over the army in place of
Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went
in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. |
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2 Samuel 17:26 |
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And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of
Gilead. |
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2 Samuel 17:27 |
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Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi the
son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, Machir the son of Ammiel from
Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, |
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2 Samuel 17:28 |
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brought beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley,
flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched seeds, |
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2 Samuel 17:29 |
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honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd,
for David and for the people who were with him, to eat; for they said, "The people
are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness." |
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