6. So the troops went out to the country to fight Israel in the forest of Ephraim.
7. There David’s men defeated Israel’s army, and the massacre was sizable that day—20,000 men.
8. The fighting spread over the whole country. That day the woods devoured more people than the battle.
9. Absalom happened to come face to face with some of David’s men. He was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the tangled branches of a large tree. Absalom’s head became caught in the tree. So he was left hanging in midair when the mule that was under him ran away.
10. A man who saw this told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in a tree.”
11. “What! You saw that!” Joab said to the man who told him. “Why didn’t you strike him to the ground? Then I would have felt obligated to give you four ounces of silver and a belt.”
12. But the man told Joab, “Even if I felt the weight of 25 pounds of silver in my hand, I wouldn’t raise my hand against the king’s son. We heard the order the king gave you, Abishai, and Ittai: ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’
13. If I had done something treacherous to him, would you have stood by me? Like everything else, it wouldn’t stay hidden from the king.”
14. Then Joab said, “I shouldn’t waste time with you like this.” He took three sharp sticks and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the tree.
15. Then ten of Joab’s armorbearers surrounded Absalom, attacked him, and killed him.
16. Joab blew the ram’s horn to stop their ⌊fighting⌋, and the troops returned from pursuing Israel.
17. They took Absalom, threw him into a huge pit in the forest, and piled a large heap of stones over him. Meanwhile, all Israel fled and went back to their homes.
18. (⌊While he was still living,⌋ Absalom had taken a rock and set it up for himself in the king’s valley. He said, “I have no son to keep the memory of my name alive.” He called the rock by his name, and it is still called Absalom’s Monument today.)
19. Then Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, said, “Let me run and bring the king the good news that the Lord has freed him from his enemies.”
20. But Joab told him, “You won’t be the man carrying good news today. You can carry the news some other day. You must not deliver the news today because the king’s son is dead.”