7. And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given, is not good at this time.
8. For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are 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.
9. Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them are overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
10. And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they who are with him are valiant men.
11. Therefore I counsel that all Israel should be generally gathered to thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou shouldst go to battle in thy own person.
12. So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth 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 shall have entered into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there is not one small stone found there.
14. And 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 appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.
15. Then said Hushai to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled.
16. Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.
17. Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a maid servant went and told them; and they went and told king David.
18. Nevertheless, a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; into which they descended.
19. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn upon it; and the thing was not known.
20. And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, they have gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
21. And it came to pass, after they had departed, that they came out of the well, and went and told king David, and said to David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counseled against you.