Bible Strands
2 Samuel 17:23
When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ahithophel acts alone after Absalom’s rebel council rejects his strategy, immediately following David’s successful crossing of the Jordan.
The words — The narrative centers on רָאָה (ra.'Ah) = he saw and נֶעֶשְׂתָה (ne.'es.Tah) = it was done, recording Ahithophel’s direct observation that his counsel was not executed.
The thread — The sequence of rejected advice ending in suicide echoes the account in Matthew 27:5, while Ahithophel’s prior authority as David’s counselor is established in 2 Samuel 15:12.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to trace the concrete progression from ignored wisdom to self-directed ruin, demonstrating that despair operates as a final, irreversible action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
Cross-references
- Matthew 27:5 So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
- 2 Samuel 15:12 While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from his hometown of Giloh. So the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept increasing.
- 2 Kings 20:1 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”
- 1 Kings 16:18 When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned it down upon himself. So he died
- Psalms 5:10 Declare them guilty, O God; let them fall by their own devices. Drive them out for their many transgressions, for they have rebelled against You.
- 2 Samuel 15:31 Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
- 1 Samuel 31:4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
- Job 31:3 Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
- Psalms 55:23 But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.