19 The man’s wife took a cover, spread it over the top of the cistern, and scattered some grain over it so that no one could tell it was there.
20 Absalom’s servants came to the woman at her home. “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” they asked.The woman said, “They’ve crossed the stream.”The servants looked for them but did not find them. So Absalom’s servants returned to Jerusalem.
21 After Absalom’s servants left, both men came out of the cistern and went and told King David. “Leave right away,” they told David. “Cross the river quickly because this is what Ahithophel has advised against you. . . .”
22 David and all the troops with him left to cross the Jordan River. When the dawn came, everyone had crossed the Jordan River.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice hadn’t been followed, he saddled his donkey, left, and went home to his own city. He gave instructions to his family. Then he hanged himself, died, and was buried in his father’s tomb.
24 David had ⌊already⌋ come to Mahanaim by the time Absalom and all the men of Israel with him crossed the Jordan River.
25 Absalom appointed Amasa to take Joab’s place as commander of the army. (Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, a descendant of Ishmael. His mother was Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Joab’s mother Zeruiah.)