2 Samuel 17:7-14

New International Version

⁷ Hushai replied to Absalom, “The advice Ahithophel has given is not good this time. ⁸ You know your father and his men; they are fighters, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs.^(A) Besides, your father is an experienced fighter;^(B) he will not spend the night with the troops. ⁹ Even now, he is hidden in a cave or some other place.^(C) If he should attack your troops first,^[a] whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’ ¹⁰ Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like the heart of a lion,^(D) will melt^(E) with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a fighter and that those with him are brave.^(F)

¹¹ “So I advise you: Let all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba^(G)—as numerous as the sand^(H) on the seashore—be gathered to you, with you yourself leading them into battle. ¹² Then we will attack him wherever he may be found, and we will fall on him as dew settles on the ground. Neither he nor any of his men will be left alive. ¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down to the valley^(I) until not so much as a pebble is left.”

¹⁴ Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice^(J) of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.”^(K) For the Lord had determined to frustrate^(L) the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster^(M) on Absalom.^(N)