2 Samuel 15:12

15:12 While he was offering sacrifices, Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s adviser, ¹  to come from his city, Giloh. ²  The conspiracy was gaining momentum, and the people were starting to side with Absalom.

2 Samuel 16:23

16:23 In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation. ³  Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 9:4

9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.

He must not even trust any of his relatives. ⁵ 

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ⁶ 

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

Micah 7:5

7:5 Do not rely on a friend;

do not trust a companion!

Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms! ⁷ 

¹ tn Traditionally, “counselor,” but this term is more often associated with psychological counseling today, so “adviser” was used in the translation instead.

² tn Heb “Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the adviser of David, from his city, from Giloh, while he was sacrificing.” It is not entirely clear who (Absalom or Ahithophel) was offering the sacrifices.

³ tn Heb “And the advice of Ahithophel which he advised in those days was as when one inquires of the word of God.”

⁴ tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”

⁵ tn Heb “Be on your guard…Do not trust.” The verbs are second masculine plural of direct address and there seems no way to translate literally and not give the mistaken impression that Jeremiah is being addressed. This is another example of the tendency in Hebrew style to turn from description to direct address (a figure of speech called apostrophe).

⁶ tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”

⁷ tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”