1. MOREOVER, AHITHOPHEL said to Absalom, Let me choose 12,000 men and I will set out and pursue David this night.
2. I will come upon him while he is exhausted and weak, and cause him to panic; all the people with him will flee. Then I will strike down the king alone.
3. I will bring back all the people to you. [The removal of] the man whom you seek is the assurance that all will return; and all the people will be at peace.
4. And what he said pleased Absalom well and all the elders of Israel.
5. Absalom said, Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he says.
6. When Hushai came, Absalom said to him, Ahithophel has counseled thus. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up.
7. And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.
8. For, said Hushai, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are embittered and enraged like a bear robbed of her whelps in the field. And your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
9. Behold, he is hidden even now in some pit or other place; and when some of them are overthrown at the first, whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the followers of Absalom.
10. And even he who is brave, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and that those who are with him are brave men.