2 Samuel 18

¹And David mustered the people who were with him and set commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds over them.

²And David sent out the army: a third under the command of Joab, and a third under the command of Abishai son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, and a third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the army, 'I will indeed go out with you myself.'

³But the people said, 'You must not go out; for if we flee they will not care about us, and if half of us die they will not care about us; for now you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you be ready to help us from the city.'

⁴The king said to them, 'Whatever seems good to you I will do.' So the king stood beside the gate as all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.

⁵And the king commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai saying, 'Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.' And all the people heard when the king commanded all the commanders concerning Absalom.

⁶And the people went out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.

⁷And the people of Israel were struck there before the servants of David; and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand.

⁸And the battle was spread over all the face of the land, and the forest devoured more of the people that day than the sword devoured.

⁹And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Now Absalom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. And his head caught in the oak, so he was left hanging between the heavens and the earth, while the mule that was under him passed on.

¹⁰And a certain man saw it and told Joab, saying, 'Look, I saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree.'

¹¹And Joab said to the man who told him, 'Look, you saw him -- why then did you not strike him down there to the ground? And it would have been on me to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.'

¹²But the man said to Joab, 'Even if I were weighing out a thousand pieces of silver into my hand, I would not raise my hand against the son of the king, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Watch over for me the young man Absalom.'

¹³Or if I had acted falsely against my own life -- for nothing is hidden from the king -- you yourself would have stood aloof.

¹⁴And Joab said, 'I will not wait like this before you.' And he took three rods in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the heart of the terebinth.

¹⁵And ten young men, the armor-bearers of Joab, surrounded and struck Absalom and killed him.

¹⁶Then Joab sounded the shofar, and the army turned back from pursuing Israel, for Joab held the army back.

¹⁷And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest, and set up over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel had fled, each man to his tent.

¹⁸Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King's Valley, for he said, 'I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.' He called the pillar after his own name, and it has been called Absalom's Monument to this day.

¹⁹And Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, 'Let me run, please, and bring news to the king, for the LORD has vindicated him from the hand of his enemies.'

²⁰And Joab said to him, 'You are not a man of good news today; you shall carry the news another day. But today you shall not carry news, because the king's son is dead.'

²¹And Joab said to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. And the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

²²And Ahimaaz son of Zadok said again to Joab, 'Come what may, let me run, please, after the Cushite.' And Joab said, 'Why would you run, my son, when there is no tidings found for you?'

²³'Come what may,' he said, 'I will run.' And he said to him, 'Run.' So Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

²⁴And David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went to the roof of the gate, to the wall, and lifted his eyes and saw, and behold — a man running alone.

²⁵And the watchman called out and told the king. And the king said, If he is alone, there is good news in his mouth. And the runner came on, coming closer and closer.

²⁶The watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, 'Look, another man running alone!' The king said, 'He too brings good news.'

²⁷And the watchman said, I see the running of the first like the running of Ahimaaz son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man; he comes with good news.

²⁸And Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, 'Peace!' And he bowed down before the king with his face to the ground, and said, 'Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delivered over the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.'

²⁹And the king said, 'Is there well-being for the young man, for Absalom?' And Ahimaaz said, 'I saw the great tumult when Joab sent the king's servant and your servant, but I did not know what it was.'

³⁰And the king said, Turn aside and stand here. And he turned aside and stood.

³¹And look, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, 'May my lord the king receive good tidings, for the LORD has judged you today from the hand of all who rise against you.'

³²And the king said to the Cushite, 'Is it well with the young man Absalom?' And the Cushite said, 'May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who have risen against you for harm, be as that young man.'

³³And the king was shaken, and went up to the upper room of the gate, and wept; and thus he said as he went: 'My son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom — O that I had died in your place, Absalom, my son, my son!'