2 Samuel 16:21-22

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ¹  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ²  16:22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, ³  and Absalom had sex with ⁴  his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

2 Samuel 17:1-2

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. 17:2 When I catch up with ⁵  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ⁶  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

2 Samuel 17:12-14

17:12 We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive – not one of them! 17:13 If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”

17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided ⁷  to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

2 Samuel 17:21

17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan ⁸  climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream ⁹  quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” ¹⁰ 

[16:21]  ¹ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ² tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[16:22]  ³ sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.

[16:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “went to”; NAB “he visited his father’s concubines”; NIV “lay with his father’s concubines”; TEV “went in and had intercourse with.”

[17:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

[17:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

[17:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “commanded.”

[17:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “the water.”

[17:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.