10:017:001 Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out
twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David
this night:
10:017:002 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:
10:017:003 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.
10:017:004 And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of
Israel.
10:017:005 Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let
us hear likewise what he saith.
10:017:006 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.
10:017:007 And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.
10:017:008 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.
10:017:009 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.
10:017:010 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.