1. And it was told Joab, that the king wept and mourned for his son:
2. And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day: The king grieveth for his son.
3. And the people shunned the going into the city that day as a people would do that hath turned their backs, and fled away from the battle.
4. And the king covered his head, and cried with a loud voice: O my son Absalom, O Absalom my son, O my son.
5. Then Joab going into the house to the king, said: Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, that have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons, and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines.
6. Thou lovest them that hate thee, and thou hatest them that love thee: and thou hast shewn this day that thou carest not for thy nobles, nor for thy servants: and I now plainly perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had been slain, then it would have pleased thee.