Hushai arranged for a report to be sent to David

15 Then Hushai told the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar, what both he and Ahithophel had suggested to Absalom and the Israeli leaders. 16 Then he said to them, “Send a message quickly to David. Tell him to not stay at the place where people walk across the river, near the desert. Instead, he and his soldiers must cross the Jordan River immediately, in order that they will not be killed/wiped out.”

17 The priest’s two sons, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, were waiting at En-Rogel Spring, outside Jerusalem. They did not dare to enter the city, because if someone saw them, he would report it to Absalom. While they were at En-Rogel, a female servant of the two priests would frequently go to them and report to them what was happening, and then they would go and report it to King David. 18 But a young man saw them, and went and reported it to Absalom. They found out what the young man had done, so both of them left quickly and went to stay in the house of a man in Bahurim. That man had a well in his courtyard; so the two men went down into the well to hide. 19 The man’s wife took a cloth/mat and covered the well, and scattered grain on top of it in order that no one would know that two men were hiding inside it.

20 Some of Absalom’s soldiers found out where the two men had gone. So they went to the house, and asked the woman, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

She replied, “They crossed the river.”

So the soldiers crossed the river and searched for them. But they could not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. 21 After they had gone, the two men came out of the well and went and reported to King David what had happened and what Ahithophel had suggested. Then they said to him, “Cross the river quickly!” 22 So David and all his soldiers quickly started to cross the Jordan River, and by dawn they had all crossed to the other side.

23 When Ahithophel realized that Absalom was not going to do what he suggested, he put a saddle on his donkey and returned to his own town. He gave to his family instructions about his possessions, and then he hanged himself because he knew that Absalom would be defeated and that he would be considered a traitor and be killed. His body was buried in the tomb where his ancestors had been buried.

24 David and his soldiers arrived at Mahanaim. And Absalom and all his Israeli soldiers also crossed the Jordan River. 25 Absalom had appointed his cousin Amasa to be the commander of his army, instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Jether, a descendant of Ishmael. Amasa’s mother was Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and the sister of Joab’s mother Zeruiah. 26 Absalom and his Israeli soldiers set up their tents in the Gilead region.

27 When David and his soldiers arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah city in the Ammon area, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-Debar city, and Barzillai from Rogelim town in the Gilead region 28 brought sleeping mats, bowls, clay pots, barley, wheat flour, parched grain, beans, and lentils to them. 29 They brought honey and curds, sheep, and some cream/cheese for David and his soldiers to eat. They knew that David and his soldiers would be hungry and tired and thirsty from marching in the desert.