2 Samuel 18:6–17

⁶So David’s army marched into the field to engage Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷There the people of Israel were defeated by David’s servants, and the slaughter was great that day— twenty thousand men. ⁸The battle spread over the whole countryside, and that day the forest devoured more people than the sword.

⁹Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak,^b Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair. ¹⁰When one of the men saw this, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!”

¹¹“You just saw him!” Joab exclaimed. “Why did you not strike him to the ground right there? I would have given you ten shekels of silver^c and a warrior’s belt!”

¹²The man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels of silver^d were weighed out into my hands, I would not raise my hand against the son of the king. For we heard the king command you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.^e’ ¹³If I had jeopardized my own life^f— and nothing is hidden from the king— you would have abandoned me.”

¹⁴But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree. ¹⁵And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.

¹⁶Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab had restrained them. ¹⁷They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.