Discovery Box2 Samuel 15:24-37 
Context15:24 Zadok and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. When they positioned the ark of God, Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving 1 the city.
15:25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s sight he will bring me back and enable me to see both it and his dwelling place again. 15:26 However, if he should say, ‘I do not take pleasure in you,’ then he will deal with me in a way that he considers appropriate.” 2
15:27 The king said to Zadok the priest, “Are you a seer? 3 Go back to the city in peace! Your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan may go with you and Abiathar. 4 15:28 Look, I will be waiting at the fords of the desert until word from you 5 reaches me.” 15:29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and remained there.
15:30 As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up. 15:31 Now David 6 had been told, “Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom. So David prayed, 7 “Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O Lord!”
15:32 When David reached the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite met him with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. 15:33 David said to him, “If you leave 8 with me you will be a burden to me. 15:34 But you will be able to counter the advice of Ahithophel if you go back to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king! Previously I was your father’s servant, and now I will be your servant.’ 15:35 Zadok and Abiathar the priests will be there with you. 9 Everything you hear in the king’s palace 10 you must tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 15:36 Furthermore, their two sons are there with them, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. You must send them to me with any information you hear.” 11
15:37 So David’s friend Hushai arrived in the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 17:15-21
Context17:15 Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders 12 of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised. 17:16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him, 13 “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert 14 tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, 15 or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” 16
17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city. 17:18 But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it. 17:19 His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done.
17:20 When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men 17 searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. 18
17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan 19 climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream 20 quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” 21
1 tn Heb “crossing from.”
2 tn Heb “as [is] good in his eyes.”
3 tn The Greek tradition understands the Hebrew word as an imperative (“see”). Most Greek
4 tn Heb “And Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, two of your sons, with you.” The pronominal suffix on the last word is plural, referring to Zadok and Abiathar.
5 tn The pronoun is plural, referring to Zadok and Abiathar.
6 tc The translation follows 4QSama, part of the Greek tradition, the Syriac Peshitta, Targum, and Vulgate uldavid in reading “and to David,” rather than MT וְדָוִד (vÿdavid, “and David”). As Driver points out, the Hebrew verb הִגִּיד (higgid, “he related”) never uses the accusative for the person to whom something is told (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 316).
7 tn Heb “said.”
8 tn Heb “cross over.”
9 tn Heb “Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you?” The rhetorical question draws attention to the fact that Hushai will not be alone.
10 tn Heb “from the house of the king.”
11 tn Heb “and you must send by their hand to me every word which you hear.” Both of the second person verb forms are plural with Zadok, Abiathar, and Hushai being the understood subjects.
12 tn Heb “elders.”
13 tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”
14 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).
15 tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”
16 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
17 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
19 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “the water.”
21 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.
