2 Kings 17:14
And Absalom, and all the men of Israel said: The counsel of Chusai the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel: and by the will of the Lord the profitable counsel of Achitophel was defeated, that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.
Open 2 Kings 17:14 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Dixitque Absalom, et omnes viri Israël : Melius est consilium Chusai Arachitæ, consilio Achitophel : Domini autem nutu dissipatum est consilium Achitophel utile, ut induceret Dominus super Absalom malum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ καὶ πᾶς ἀνὴρ Ἰσραήλ Ἀγαθὴ ἡ βουλὴ Χουσεὶ τοῦ Ἀραχεὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν βουλὴν Ἀχειτόφελ τὴν ἀγαθήν· καὶ Κύριος ἐνετείλατο διασκεδάσαι τὴν βουλὴν Ἀχειτόφελ, ὅπως ἂν ἐπαγάγῃ Κύριος ἐπὶ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τὰ κακὰ πάντα.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם֙ וְכָל אִ֣ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל טוֹבָ֗ה עֲצַת֙ חוּשַׁ֣י הָאַרְכִּ֔י מֵעֲצַ֖ת אֲחִיתֹ֑פֶל וַיהוָ֣ה צִוָּ֗ה לְהָפֵ֞ר אֶת עֲצַ֤ת אֲחִיתֹ֨פֶל֙ הַטּוֹבָ֔ה לְבַעֲב֗וּר הָבִ֧יא יְהוָ֛ה אֶל אַבְשָׁל֖וֹם אֶת הָרָעָֽה
Haydock's commentary
Profitable, to the cause of Absalom, more than that of Chusai, which was also very plausible. (Haydock)
Lord. The Scripture always directs us to fix our thoughts on God, as the arbiter of all human affairs. (Calmet)
Hebrew, "for the Lord had ordained to dissipate the good counsel," &c. (Haydock)
"Plerumque qui fortunam mutaturus est consilia corrumpit, efficitque, quod miserrimum est, ut quod accidit, etiam meritò accidisse videatur, et casus in culpam transeat," Peterc. ii.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine A Treatise on Grace and Free Will, The Wills of Men are So Much in the Power of God, that He Can Turn Them Whithersoever It Pleases Him
I think I have now discussed the point fully enough in opposition to those who vehemently oppose the grace of God, by which, however, the human will is not taken away, but changed from bad to good, and assisted when it is good. I think, too, that I have so discussed the subject, that it is not so much I myself as the inspired Scripture which has spoken to you, in the clearest testimonies of truth; and if this divine record be looked into carefully, it shows us that not only men’s good wills, which God Himself converts from bad ones, and, when converted by Him, directs to good actions and to eternal life, but also those which follow the world are so entirely at the disposal of God, that He turns them whithersoever He wills, and whensoever He wills, to bestow kindness on some, and to heap punishment on others, as He Himself judges right by a counsel most secret to Himself, indeed, but beyo …
St Jerome Against the Pelagians, Book II
xvii. 14 . And is delivered only by God’s confounding the counsel of Ahithophel.
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII, Chapter XIX. The answer, that leave to lie, which was not even granted under the old Covenant, has rightly been taken by many
Joseph : All liberty in the matter of wives and many concubines, as the end of time is approaching and the multiplying of the human race completed, ought rightly to be cut off by evangelical perfection, as being no longer necessary. For up to the coming of Christ it was well that the blessing of the original sentence should be in full vigour, whereby it was said: “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.” And therefore it was quite right that from the root of human fecundity which happily flourished in the synagogue, in accordance with that dispensation of the times, the buds of angelical virginity should spring, and the fragrant flowers of continence be produced in the Church. …