6 When Hushai from Erek arrived, Absalom said to him, "This is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow it or not? What do you say?"
7 Hushai said to Absalom, "This time, the advice Ahithophel has given isn’t right.
8 You know that your father and his men are warriors," he continued, "and they are as desperate as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is a seasoned fighter. He won’t spend the night with his troops.
9 Even now he has probably hidden himself in one of the caves or some other place. When some of the troops fall in the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘The soldiers who follow Absalom have been defeated!’
10 Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like a lion’s, will melt in fear because all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave.
11 So I would advise that all the Israelites, from Dan to Beer-sheba—a group as countless as sand on the seashore—be summoned to join you, and that you yourself go into battle.
12 When we attack him wherever he might be, we will fall on him like dew that falls on the ground. No one will survive—not him and not one of the soldiers who are with him!