17 ¹⁵ Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar the priests all the advice that Ahithophel had given to Absalom and the elders of Israel, and also his own. 17 ¹⁶ 'Now send quickly to David,' he said, 'and warn him not to spend the night at the Fords of the Wilderness but to cross the river at once, before a blow can be struck at the king and his followers.' 17 ¹⁷ Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel, and a servant girl would go and tell them what happened and they would pass it on to King David; for they could not risk being seen entering the city. 17 ¹⁸ But this time a lad saw them and told Absalom; so the two of them hurried to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a pit in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. 17 ¹⁹ The man's wife took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the pit and strewed grain over it, and no one was any the wiser. 17 ²⁰ Absalom's servants came to the house and asked the woman, 'Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?' She answered, 'They went beyond the pool.' The men searched but could not find them; so they went back to Jerusalem.

17 ²¹ When they had gone the two climbed out of the pit and went off to report to King David and said, 'Over the water at once, make haste!', and they told him Ahithophel's plan against him. 17 ²² So David and all his company began at once to cross the Jordan; by daybreak there was not one who had not reached the other bank.

17 ²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been taken he saddled his ass, went straight home to his own city, gave his last instructions to his household, and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father's grave.

17 ²⁴ By the time that Absalom had crossed the Jordan with the Israelites, David was already at Mahanaim. 17 ²⁵ Absalom had appointed Amasa as commander-in-chief instead of Joab; he was the son of a man named Ithra, an lshmaelite, by Abigal daughter of Nahash and sister to Joab's mother Zeruiah. 17 ²⁶ The Israelites and Absalom camped in the district of Gilead.

17 ²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash from the Ammonite town Rabbah, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 17 ²⁸ bringing mattresses and blankets, bowls and jugs bringing ... jugs: prob. rdg, Heb a couch, bowls and a potter's vessel. They brought also wheat and barley, meal and parched grain, beans and lentils, 17 ²⁹ honey and curds, sheep and fat cattle, and offered them to David and his people to eat, knowing that the people must be hungry and thirsty and weary in the wilderness.