14 Absalom and the elders of Israel heard what Hushai said, and they reckoned, “Hushai from the Arek mob has a good idea. It is better than the other plan of that wise man Ahithofel.” You see, God himself made them think like that. He wanted them to follow Hushai’s plan, and so make big trouble for Absalom. God confused them, so they did not like Ahithofel’s good plan. (We have not yet translated 17:15-29.)
14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel. For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.
14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Jehovah had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring evil upon Absalom.
14 Then Absalom and everyone in Israel agreed, “The advice of Hushai from Erek is better than Ahithophel’s advice.” This was because the LORD had decided to counter Ahithophel’s good advice so that the LORD could bring disaster on Absalom.
14 And Absalom, with all the men of Israel, said: "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." So, by an act of the Lord, the useful counsel of Ahithophel was defeated, in order that the Lord might lead evil over Absalom.
I want you to do something different for me. Go back to Jerusalem and say you want to work for my son, Absalom. Lie to him and say, ‘Boss. I want to work for you now. I used to work for your father, but now I want to work only for you.’ If you do that, it will really help me. If that old man Ahithofel tells my son something, you can tell him a different story and confuse him.” (We have not yet translated 15:35—16:4.)
The people of this world think they are very smart, but God knows they are fools. We can read this in God’s book, “People reckon they are smart, but God uses their own smart ideas like a trap, and he catches them.”
That manager was cheating his boss, but his boss thought, ‘This man is a liar and a cheat, but he is smart too. He has done something that will help him get his food later.’ ” Then Jesus said, “You know, the people that don’t care about God, but only care about the things in this world, they are smart with the things of this world. God’s people are not so smart with the things of this world.
So Absalom took notice of that wise man’s story, just like his father used to take notice of him. They both thought that he talked straight, just like God does. So they always listened to him carefully.
Then the man said, “Now I’m giving you a new name. Your name will not be Jacob any more. You tried to fight with God and with people, and you won. So I’m giving you the name Israel.” That name Israel means fight with God.