Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En-rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David: for they might not be seen to come into the city.

And Jonathan and Achimaas stayed by the fountain Rogel: and there went a maid and told them: and they went forward, to carry the message to king David, for they might not be seen, nor enter into the city.

And Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; and the maid went and told them; and they went and told king David, for they might not be seen to come into the city.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; and a maidservant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David: for they might not be seen to come into the city.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a maid servant went and told them; and they went and told king David.

And Jonathan and Ahimaaz are standing at En-Rogel, and the maid-servant hath gone and declared to them, and they go and have declared it to king David, for they are not able to be seen to go in to the city.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel; and a servant-girl went from time to time and gave them news and they went with the news to King David, for it was not wise for them to let themselves be seen coming into the town.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David; for they might not be seen to come into the city.

But Jonathan and Ahimaaz remained beside the Fountain of Rogel. And a handmaid went away and reported it to them. And they set out, so that they might carry the report to king David. For they could not be seen, nor enter into the city.

En-rogel - See the marginal reference.
A wench - Hebrew "the maid servant," namely, of the high priest, either Zadok or Abiathar, or possibly one employed in some service in the temple courts. (1-Samuel 2:22 note.)
And they went and told king David - As related afterward 2-Samuel 17:21. Here mentioned by anticipation.

En-rogel - The fullers' well; the place where they were accustomed to tread the clothes with their feet; hence the name עין ein, a well, and רגל regel, the foot, because of the treading above mentioned.
And a wench went and told them - The word wench occurs nowhere else in the Holy Scriptures: and, indeed, has no business here; as the Hebrew word שפחה shiphchah, should have been translated girl, maid, maid-servant. The word either comes from the Anglo-Saxon, a maid, or the Belgic wunch, desire, a thing wished for: multum enim ut plurimum Puellae a Juvenibus desiderantur, seu appetuntur. So Minsheu. Junius seems more willing to derive it from wince, to frisk, to be skittish, etc., for reasons sufficiently obvious, and which he gives at length. After all, it may as likely come from the Gothic wens or weins, a word frequently used in the gospels of the Codex Argenteus for wife. Coverdale's Bible, 1535, has damsell. Becke's Bible, 1549, has wenche. The same in Cardmarden's Bible, 1566; but it is maid in Barker's Bible, 1615. Wench is more of a Scotticism than maid or damsel; and King James probably restored it, as he is said to have done lad in Genesis 21:12, and elsewhere. In every other place where the word occurs, our translators render it handmaid, bondmaid, maiden, womanservant, maidservant, and servant. Such is the latitude with which they translate the same Hebrew term in almost innumerable instances.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told (g) them; and they went and told king David.
(g) Meaning, the message from their fathers.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel,.... Who were the sons of the priests; these did not go into the city of Jerusalem with their parents, when they were sent back by David, 2-Samuel 15:27; but stayed by their direction at this place, which was near Jerusalem, and is called in the Targum the fuller's fountain, where they washed their clothes; and, as Kimchi and Jarchi say, by treading them with their feet, whence it had the name of Rogel, of which See Gill on Joshua 15:7,
(for they might not be seen to come into the city); having been charged by their parents to continue there for the sake of carrying intelligence to David, or because suspected by Absalom's party of carrying on such an intrigue:
and a wench went and told them: what Hushai had communicated to the priests, and what was his advice to David; this girl is supposed by Kimchi and Abarbinel to be of the family of Zadok, by whom she was sufficiently instructed to tell her message, and of whom there would be no suspicion:
and they went and told King David; the sons of the priests went and related to him all that had been transmitted to them.

by En-rogel--the fuller's well in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, below the junction of the valley of Hinnom with that of Jehoshaphat.

"Jonathan and Ahimaaz (the sons of the priests: 2-Samuel 15:27) stood at the Rogel spring (the present well of Job or Nehemiah, at the south-east corner of Jerusalem: see at Job 15:7), and the maid-servant (of one of the high priests) went and told them (Hushai's message), and they went and told it to king David; for they durst not let themselves be seen to come into the city." They had therefore been staying at the Rogel spring outside the city. After what had taken place publicly, according to 2-Samuel 15:24., Absalom could not be in any doubt as to the views of the high priests. Consequently their sons could not come into the city, with the intention of leaving it again directly, to inform David of the occurrences that had taken place there as he had requested (2-Samuel 15:28). The clause "and they went and told David" anticipates the course of the affair, according to the general plan adopted by Hebrew historians, of communicating the result at the very outset wherever they possibly could.

Enrogel - Or, the fullers well. A place near Jerusalem, Joshua 15:7, Joshua 18:16. Wench - Pretending to go thither to wash some cloaths, or to draw water.