4
And the king said to them, What seemeth to you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.
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 wood of Ephraim;
7
Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants 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 country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
9
And Absalom met the servants 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 suspended 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, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.
11
And Joab said to the man that told him, And behold, thou sawest [him], and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten [shekels] of silver, and a girdle.
12
And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand [shekels] of silver in my hand, [yet] would I 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 none [touch] the young man Absalom.
13
Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against my own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldst have set thyself against [me].
14
Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he [was] yet alive in the midst of the oak.