7. Then Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.
8. For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and now their souls are bitter, 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.
9. Behold, he is hid now in some pit or in some other place, and if some of thy men are overthrown at the beginning, whoever hears of it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
10. Thus even the valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt, for all Israel knows that thy father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men.
11. Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that thou go to battle in thine own person.
12. Then we shall come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men that are with him, there shall not be left so much as one.
13. Moreover, if he goes into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river until not even one small stone is found there.