5
And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying,
Deal gently for my sake with the young man,
even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.
6
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim,
7
where the people of Israel were slain before the slaves of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand
men.
8
For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
9
And Absalom met the slaves of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that
was under him went away.
10
And a certain man saw
it and told Joab, saying, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.
11
And Joab replied unto the man that told him, Behold, when thou didst see
him, why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? I would have given thee ten
shekels of silver and a girdle.
12
And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand
shekels of silver in my hand,
yet I would not put forth my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that no one
touch the young man Absalom.
13
Otherwise, I should have wrought falsehood against my own soul (for there is no matter hid from the king), and thou thyself would have set thyself against
me.
14
Then Joab answered, I may not tarry thus with thee. And taking three darts in his hand, he thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he
was yet alive in the midst of the oak.
15
And ten young men that bore Joab’s armour surrounded and smote Absalom and slew him.