Daily Text and Bible Reading: Saturday, April 12 [Press play below]

17.1 Ahithophel then said to Absalom: “Please let me choose 12,000 men and rise up and chase after David tonight.
17.2 I will come upon him when he is weary and powerless, and I will throw him into a panic; and all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike down only the king.
17.3 Then I will bring all the people back to you. The return of all the people depends on what happens with the man you are seeking. Then all the people will be at peace.”
17.4 The proposal was just right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
17.5 However, Absalom said: “Please call Hushai the Archite as well, and let us hear what he has to say.”
17.6 So Hushai came in to Absalom. Then Absalom said to him: “This is the advice Ahithophel gave. Should we act on his advice? If not, you tell us.”
17.7 At this Hushai said to Absalom: “The advice that Ahithophel gave is not good in this instance!”
17.8 Hushai continued: “You well know that your father and his men are mighty, and they are desperate, like a bear that has lost her cubs in the field. Moreover, your father is a warrior, and he will not spend the night with the people.
17.9 At this very moment he is hiding in one of the caves or in some other place; and if he attacks first, those hearing of it will say, ‘The people following Absalom have been defeated!’
17.10 Even the courageous man whose heart is like that of a lion will surely melt in fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and that the men with him are courageous.
17.11 I give this advice: Let all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beer-sheba, as many as the grains of sand by the sea, and you should lead them into the fight.
17.12 We will come against him wherever he is found, and we will come upon him just like the dew that falls on the ground; and not one of them will survive, not he nor any of the men with him.
17.13 If he retreats into a city, all Israel will carry ropes to that city, and we will drag it down into the valley until not even a pebble is left.”
17.14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said: “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel!” For Jehovah had determined to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that Jehovah could bring disaster on Absalom.
17.15 Hushai later said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “This is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I have advised.
17.16 Now quickly send word to David and warn him: ‘Do not stay at the fords of the wilderness tonight, but cross over without fail, or the king and all the people with him may be wiped out.’”
17.17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel; so a servant girl went off and told them and they went to tell King David, for they did not dare to be seen entering the city.
17.18 However, a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them quickly went off and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard. They went down into it,
17.19 and the man’s wife spread a covering over the top of the well and covered it with cracked grain; no one knew about it.
17.20 The servants of Absalom came to the woman at her house and asked: “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied: “They passed by toward the water.” Then the men searched for them but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.
17.21 After the men were gone, they came up out of the well and went and informed King David. They said to him: “Rise up and quickly cross the water, for this is what Ahithophel advised against you.”
17.22 Immediately David and all the people with him rose up and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, there was no one left who had not crossed the Jordan.
17.23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been acted on, he saddled a donkey and went to his house in his hometown. After he gave instructions to his household, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the burial place of his forefathers.
17.24 Meanwhile, David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.
17.25 Absalom put Amasa in charge of the army in place of Joab; Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite, who had relations with Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.
17.26 Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
17.27 As soon as David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim
17.28 brought beds, basins, clay pots, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, broad beans, lentils, parched grain,
17.29 honey, butter, sheep, and cheese. They brought all of this out for David and the people with him to eat, for they said: “The people are hungry and tired and thirsty in the wilderness.”

18.1 Then David numbered the men who were with him and placed over them chiefs of thousands and chiefs of hundreds.
18.2 And David sent one third of the men under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Joab’s brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. The king then said to the men: “I will also go out with you.”
18.3 But they said: “You must not go out, for if we flee, they would not care about us; and if half of us would die, they would not care about us, because you are worth 10,000 of us. Therefore, it would be better if you would send us help from the city.”
18.4 The king said to them: “Whatever seems best to you, I will do.” So the king stood next to the city gate, and all the men went out by hundreds and by thousands.
18.5 Then the king gave Joab and Abishai and Ittai this order: “Deal gently with the young man Absalom for my sake.” All the men heard it when the king gave all the chiefs the order about Absalom.
18.6 The men went out to the field to meet Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.
18.7 There the people of Israel were defeated by the servants of David, and a great slaughter took place on that day—20,000 men.
18.8 The battle spread through the whole region. Furthermore, the forest devoured more of the people than the sword did on that day.
18.9 Absalom eventually found himself facing the servants of David. Absalom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a large tree, and his head got entangled in the big tree, so that he was suspended in midair while the mule he had been riding kept going.
18.10 Then someone saw it and told Joab: “Look! I have seen Absalom hanging in a big tree.”
18.11 Joab replied to the man who told him: “If you saw it, why did you not strike him down to the ground on the spot? Then I would have gladly given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.”
18.12 But the man said to Joab: “Even if I were handed 1,000 pieces of silver, I could not lift my hand against the king’s son, for we heard the king order you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Whoever you are, watch over the young man Absalom.’
18.13 If I had disobeyed and taken his life, it could never have remained hidden from the king, and you would not have protected me.”
18.14 To this Joab said: “I am not going to waste any more time with you!” So he took three spikes in his hand and drove them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the midst of the big tree.
18.15 Then ten attendants who carried Joab’s weapons came and struck Absalom until he was dead.
18.16 Joab now blew the horn, and the men returned from chasing after Israel; Joab called for them to halt.
18.17 They took Absalom and threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up over him a very big heap of stones. And all Israel fled to their homes.
18.18 Now Absalom, while he was alive, had taken and set up for himself a pillar in the Valley of the King, for he said: “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.
18.19 Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said: “Let me run, please, and break the news to the king, for Jehovah has given him justice by freeing him from his enemies.”
18.20 But Joab said to him: “You will not be a bearer of news this day. You may break the news on another day, but today you will not break the news, because the king’s own son has died.”
18.21 Then Joab said to a Cushite: “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” At that the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran off.
18.22 Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said once again to Joab: “Whatever happens, please let me also run behind the Cushite.” However, Joab said: “Why should you run, my son, when there is no news for you to tell?”
18.23 Still he said: “Whatever happens, let me run.” So Joab said to him: “Run!” And Ahimaaz ran by the way of the district of the Jordan, and he eventually overtook the Cushite.
18.24 Now David was sitting between the two city gates, and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall. He looked up and saw a man running by himself.
18.25 So the watchman called out and told the king. The king said: “If he is by himself, he has news to tell.” As he came steadily nearer,
18.26 the watchman saw another man running. The watchman then called to the gatekeeper: “Look! Another man running by himself!” The king said: “This one is also bringing news.”
18.27 The watchman said: “I can see that the first man runs like Ahimaaz the son of Zadok,” so the king said: “He is a good man, and he comes with good news.”
18.28 Ahimaaz then called out to the king: “All is well!” With that he bowed to the king with his face to the ground. Then he said: “May Jehovah your God be praised, who has surrendered the men who rebelled against my lord the king!”
18.29 However, the king said: “Is everything all right with the young man Absalom?” To this Ahimaaz said: “I saw the great commotion when Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, but I did not know what it was.”
18.30 So the king said: “Step aside, stand here.” At that he stepped aside and stood there.
18.31 Then the Cushite arrived, and the Cushite said: “Let my lord the king accept this news: Today Jehovah has brought justice by freeing you from the hand of all those who rebelled against you.”
18.32 But the king said to the Cushite: “Is everything all right with the young man Absalom?” To this the Cushite said: “May all the enemies of my lord the king and all those who rebelled against you to harm you become like the young man!”
18.33 This disturbed the king, and he went up to the roof chamber over the gateway and wept, saying as he walked: “My son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom my son, my son!”