Hushai Misleads Absalom

¹Not long after that, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and tonight I will set out after David.

²I will attack him while he is tired and discouraged. He will be frightened, and all his men will run away. I will kill only the king

³and then bring back all his men to you, like a bride returning to her husband. You want to kill only one man; the rest of the people will be safe.”

⁴This seemed like good advice to Absalom and all the Israelite leaders.

⁵Absalom said, “Now call Hushai, and let us hear what he has to say.”

⁶When Hushai arrived, Absalom said to him, “This is the advice that Ahithophel has given us; shall we follow it? If not, you tell us what to do.”

⁷Hushai answered, “The advice Ahithophel gave you this time is no good.

⁸You know that your father David and his men are hard fighters and that they are as fierce as a mother bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier and does not stay with his men at night.

⁹Right now he is probably hiding in a cave or some other place. As soon as David attacks your men, whoever hears about it will say that your men have been defeated.

¹⁰Then even the bravest men, as fearless as lions, will be afraid because everyone in Israel knows that your father is a great soldier and that his men are hard fighters.

¹¹My advice is that you bring all the Israelites together from one end of the country to the other, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore, and that you lead them personally in battle.

¹²We will find David wherever he is, and attack him before he knows what's happening. Neither he nor any of his men will survive.

¹³If he retreats into a city, our people will all bring ropes and just pull the city into the valley below. Not a single stone will be left there on top of the hill.”

¹⁴Absalom and all the Israelites said, “Hushai's advice is better than Ahithophel's.” The Lord had decided that Ahithophel's good advice would not be followed, so that disaster would come on Absalom.

David Is Warned and Escapes

¹⁵Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar what advice he had given to Absalom and the Israelite leaders and what advice Ahithophel had given.

¹⁶Hushai added, “Quick, now! Send a message to David not to spend the night at the river crossings in the wilderness, but to cross the Jordan at once, so that he and his men won't all be caught and killed.”

¹⁷Abiathar's son Jonathan and Zadok's son Ahimaaz were waiting at the spring of Enrogel, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, because they did not dare be seen entering the city. A servant woman would regularly go and tell them what was happening, and then they would go and tell King David.

¹⁸But one day a boy happened to see them, and he told Absalom; so they hurried off to hide in the house of a certain man in Bahurim. He had a well near his house, and they got down in it.

¹⁹The man's wife took a covering, spread it over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it, so that no one would notice anything.

²⁰Absalom's officials came to the house and asked the woman, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” “They crossed the river,” she answered. The men looked for them but could not find them, and so they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹After they left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan came up out of the well and went and reported to King David. They told him what Ahithophel had planned against him and said, “Hurry up and cross the river.”

²²So David and his men started crossing the Jordan, and by daybreak they had all gone across.

²³When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and went back to his hometown. After putting his affairs in order, he hanged himself. He was buried in the family grave.

²⁴David had reached the town of Mahanaim by the time Absalom and the Israelites had crossed the Jordan.

²⁵(Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army in the place of Joab. Amasa was the son of Jether the Ishmaelite; his mother was Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and the sister of Joab's mother Zeruiah.)

²⁶Absalom and his men camped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷When David arrived at Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash, from the city of Rabbah in Ammon, and by Machir son of Ammiel, from Lodebar, and by Barzillai, from Rogelim in Gilead.

^28-29They brought bowls, clay pots, and bedding, and also food for David and his men: wheat, barley, meal, roasted grain, beans, peas, honey, cheese, cream, and some sheep. They knew that David and his men would get hungry, thirsty, and tired in the wilderness.

¹So David said, “This is where the Temple of the Lord God will be. Here is the altar where the people of Israel are to offer burnt offerings.”

Preparations for Building the Temple

²King David gave orders for all the foreigners living in the land of Israel to assemble, and he put them to work. Some of them prepared stone blocks for building the Temple.

³He supplied a large amount of iron for making nails and clamps for the wooden gates, and so much bronze that no one could weigh it.

⁴He had the people of Tyre and Sidon bring him a large number of cedar logs.

⁵David thought, “The Temple that my son Solomon is to build must be splendid and world-famous. But he is young and inexperienced, so I must make preparations for it.” So David got large amounts of the materials ready before he died.

⁶He sent for his son Solomon and commanded him to build a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷David said to him, “Son, I wanted to build a temple to honor the Lord my God.

⁸But the Lord told me that I had killed too many people and fought too many wars. And so, because of all the bloodshed I have caused, he would not let me build a temple for him.

⁹He did, however, make me a promise. He said, ‘You will have a son who will rule in peace, because I will give him peace from all his enemies. His name will be Solomon, because during his reign I will give Israel peace and security.

¹⁰He will build a temple for me. He will be my son, and I will be his father. His dynasty will rule Israel forever.’”

¹¹David continued, “Now, son, may the Lord your God be with you, and may he keep his promise to make you successful in building a temple for him.

¹²And may the Lord your God give you insight and wisdom so that you may govern Israel according to his Law.

¹³If you obey all the laws which the Lord gave to Moses for Israel, you will be successful. Be determined and confident, and don't let anything make you afraid.

¹⁴As for the Temple, by my efforts I have accumulated almost four thousand tons of gold and nearly forty thousand tons of silver to be used in building it. Besides that, there is an unlimited supply of bronze and iron. I also have wood and stone ready, but you must get more.

¹⁵You have many workers. There are stonecutters to work in the quarries, and there are masons and carpenters, as well as a large number of skilled workers of every sort who can work

¹⁶with gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Now begin the work, and may the Lord be with you.”

¹⁷David commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon.

¹⁸He said, “The Lord your God has been with you and given you peace on all sides. He let me conquer all the people who used to live in this land, and they are now subject to you and to the Lord.

¹⁹Now serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. Start building the Temple, so that you can place in it the Covenant Box of the Lord and all the other sacred objects used in worshiping him.”

Human Wickedness

¹Sin speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts; they reject God and do not have reverence for him.

²Because they think so highly of themselves, they think that God will not discover their sin and condemn it.

³Their speech is wicked and full of lies; they no longer do what is wise and good.

⁴They make evil plans as they lie in bed; nothing they do is good, and they never reject anything evil.

The Goodness of God

⁵Lord, your constant love reaches the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the skies.

⁶Your righteousness is towering like the mountains; your justice is like the depths of the sea. People and animals are in your care.

⁷How precious, O God, is your constant love! We find protection under the shadow of your wings.

⁸We feast on the abundant food you provide; you let us drink from the river of your goodness.

⁹You are the source of all life, and because of your light we see the light.

¹⁰Continue to love those who know you and to do good to those who are righteous.

¹¹Do not let proud people attack me or the wicked make me run away.

¹²See where evil people have fallen. There they lie, unable to rise.