13
Or, if I had pretended that I didn't know, the king would have known otherwise anyway; and you wouldn't have interceded for me either."
14
Yo'av said, "I can't waste time arguing with you!" He took three darts in his hand and rammed them through Avshalom's heart while he was still alive, hanging from the terebinth.
15
Then Yo'av's ten young armor-bearers surrounded Avshalom, struck him and killed him.
16
Yo'av sounded the shofar, and the people returned from pursuing Isra'el, because Yo'av held back the troops.
17
They took Avshalom and threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled a big heap of stones over him. All Isra'el fled, each one to his tent.
18
In his own lifetime Avshalom had taken and raised for himself the pillar which stands in the King's Valley; because he said, "I don't have a son to preserve the memory of my name." So he named the pillar after himself, and it's called Avshalom's Monument to this day.
19
Then Achima'atz the son of Tzadok said, "Let me run now and bring news to the king that ADONAI has judged in his favor by releasing him from his enemies."
20
Yo'av said to him, "You are not to be the one to bring the news today; you can convey news another day; but today you will not bring news, because the king's son is dead."
21
Then Yo'av said to the Ethiopian, "Go, tell the king what you saw."The Ethiopian bowed to Yo'av, then ran off.
22
But Achima'atz the son of Tzadok said again to Yo'av, "Come what may, please let me also run after the Ethiopian." Yo'av answered, "Why do you want to run, my son? You won't receive any reward for bringing the news."
23
"I don't care - whatever happens, I want to run." So he said to him, "Run." Then Achima'atz ran by the road through the desert flats and outran the Ethiopian.