¹⁰ For my haters are waiting secretly for me; and those who are watching for my soul are banded together in their evil designs,

⁶ They come together, they are waiting in secret places, they take note of my steps, they are waiting for my soul.

¹ Now when it was morning, all the chief priests and those in authority took thought together with the purpose of putting Jesus to death.

³ They have made wise designs against your people, talking together against those whom you keep in a secret place.

³ Then the chief priests and the rulers of the people came together in the house of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas.

⁴ And they made designs together to take Jesus by some trick, and put him to death.

¹⁰ For numbers of them say evil secretly in my hearing (there is fear on every side): they say, Come, let us give witness against him; all my nearest friends, who are watching for my fall, say, It may be that he will be taken by deceit, and we will get the better of him and give him punishment.

¹¹ If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause;

³² The sinners are watching the upright man, desiring to put him to death.

³³ The Lord will not give him into their hands, or be against him when he is judged.

¹³ False statements against me have come to my ears; fear was on every side: they were talking together against me, designing to take away my life.

⁹ He keeps himself in a secret place like a lion in his hole, waiting to put his hands on the poor man, and pulling him into his net.

² The kings of the earth have taken their place, and the rulers are fixed in their purpose, against the Lord, and against the king of his selection, saying,

¹ Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me take out twelve thousand men and this very night I will go after David:

² And I will come up with him when he is tired and feeble, and make him full of fear: and all the people with him will go in flight; and I will make an attack on the king only:

³ And I will make all the people come back to you as a bride comes back to her husband: it is the life of only one man you are going after; so all the people will be at peace.

⁴ And the saying was pleasing to Absalom and to the responsible men of Israel.

⁵ Then Absalom said, Now send for Hushai the Archite, and let us give ear to what he has to say.

⁶ And when Hushai came, Absalom said to him, This is what Ahithophel has said: are we to do as he says? if not, what is your suggestion?

⁷ And Hushai said to Absalom, Ahithophel's idea is not a good one at this time.

⁸ Hushai said further, You have knowledge of your father and his men, that they are men of war, and that their feelings are bitter, like those of a bear in the field whose young ones have been taken from her: and your father is a man of war, and will not take his night's rest with the people;

⁹ But he will certainly have taken cover now in some hole or secret place; and if some of our people, at the first attack, are overcome, then any hearing of it will say, There is destruction among the people who are on Absalom's side.

¹⁰ Then even the strongest, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will become like water; for all Israel is conscious that your father is a man of war, and those who are with him are strong and without fear.

¹¹ But my suggestion is that all Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, comes together to you, a great army like the sands of the sea in number; and that you yourself go out among them.

¹² Then we will come on him in some place, wherever he may be, falling on him as the dew comes on the earth: and of him and all the men who are with him not one will get away with his life.

¹³ And if he has gone into some town, then let all Israel take strong cords to that town, and we will have it pulled into the valley, till not one small stone is to be seen there.

¹⁴ Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, Hushai's suggestion is better than that of Ahithophel. For it was the purpose of the Lord to make the wise designs of Ahithophel without effect, so that the Lord might send evil on Absalom.

¹¹ Then in that night Saul sent men to David's house to keep watch on him so as to put him to death in the morning: and David's wife Michal said to him, If you do not go away to a safe place tonight you will be put to death in the morning.