Leeser(i)
1 Moreover Achithophel said unto Abshalom, Do let me now select twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night;
2 And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will terrify him; so that all the people that are with him will flee; and I will smite the king alone;
3 And I will bring back all the people unto thee: when all return except the man whom thou seekest, all the people will be in peace.
4 And the thing was pleasing in the eyes of Abshalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.
5 Then said Abshalom, Do call now also Chushai the Arkite, and let us hear what he likewise beareth in his mouth.
6 And when Chushai was come to Abshalom, Abshalom said unto him, as followeth, Such words as these hath Achithophel spoken: shall we do after his words? if not, do thou speak.
7 And Chushai said unto Abshalom, The counsel that Achithophel hath given at this time is not good.
8 And Chushai said, Thou well knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and are of an embittered spirit, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is also a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
9 Behold, he is now hidden in some one of the pits, or in some one of the other places: and it will come to pass, when some of them should fall at the first onset, that whosoever heareth it would say, There hath been slaughter among the people that follow Abshalom.
10 And he also that is most valiant, whose heart is as the heart of the lion, would become quite discouraged; for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they who are with him are valiant persons.
11 But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba’, like the sand that is by the sea in multitude: while thou in thy own person goest into the fight.
12 And when we come upon him in some one of the places where he may be found, we will encamp around him as the dew falleth on the earth: and there shall not be left of him and of all the men that are with him so much as one.
13 And if he should withdraw into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the stream, until there be not found there even one small stone.
14 And Abshalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Chushai the Arkite is better than the counsel of Achithophel. But the Lord had ordained to frustrate the good counsel of Achithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring the evil upon Abshalom.