2 Samuel 16:11

16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood,¹ is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

2 Samuel 16:21-23

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with² 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.”³ 16:22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof,⁴ and Absalom had sex with⁵ his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

16:23 In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation.⁶ Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel.⁷

¹tn Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.

²tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

³tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

⁴sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.

⁵tn Heb “went to”; NAB “he visited his father’s concubines”; NIV “lay with his father’s concubines”; TEV “went in and had intercourse with.”

⁶tn Heb “And the advice of Ahithophel which he advised in those days was as when one inquires of the word of God.”

⁷tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”