2 Samuel 17:1-3

International Standard Version

17 ¹ “Give me 12,000 men! I’ll leave^[a] tonight and pursue David,” Ahithophel advised Absalom. ² “I’ll catch him while he is still tired and weak.^[b] I’ll frighten him so all his people with him desert him. But I’ll only kill the king. ³ Then I’ll bring everybody else back to you. When the man you’re looking for is dead, all the rest of the people will return quietly.”