¹² Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will descend on him like dew on the ground. Not even one will be left—neither he nor any of the men with him. ¹³ If he retreats to some city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag its stones^[a] into the valley until not even a pebble can be found there.” ¹⁴ Since the Lord had decreed^(A) that Ahithophel’s good advice be undermined^(B) in order to bring about Absalom’s ruin, Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s advice.”