1. Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Let me pick twelve thousand men, and I will go after David tonight.
2. I will attack him while he is tired and weak, and I will throw him into a panic. All the troops with him will run off. I promise to kill the king alone,
3. and I will bring all the people back to you like a bride comes back to her husband. It’s only one man’s life you are seeking; everyone else can be at peace."
4. This plan seemed excellent to Absalom and the Israelite elders.
5. But Absalom said, "Call Hushai from Erek. Let’s hear what he has to say as well."
6. When Hushai from Erek arrived, Absalom said to him, "This is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow it or not? What do you say?"
7. Hushai said to Absalom, "This time, the advice Ahithophel has given isn’t right.
8. You know that your father and his men are warriors," he continued, "and they are as desperate as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is a seasoned fighter. He won’t spend the night with his troops.
9. Even now he has probably hidden himself in one of the caves or some other place. When some of the troops fall in the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘The soldiers who follow Absalom have been defeated!’
10. Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like a lion’s, will melt in fear because all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave.
11. So I would advise that all the Israelites, from Dan to Beer-sheba—a group as countless as sand on the seashore—be summoned to join you, and that you yourself go into battle.
12. When we attack him wherever he might be, we will fall on him like dew that falls on the ground. No one will survive—not him and not one of the soldiers who are with him!
13. If he retreats into a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into a valley until not even a pebble of it will be found."
14. Then Absalom and everyone in Israel agreed, "The advice of Hushai from Erek is better than Ahithophel’s advice." This was because the Lord had decided to counter Ahithophel’s good advice so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.
15. Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, "Here is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the Israelite elders, and here is what I advised.