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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[a] searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan[b] climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream[c] quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.”[d] 22 So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River.[e] By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 17:20 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
  2. 2 Samuel 17:21 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. 2 Samuel 17:21 tn Heb “the water.”
  4. 2 Samuel 17:21 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.
  5. 2 Samuel 17:22 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.