13. But if I had disobeyed the king and killed Absalom, the king would have heard about it — he hears about everything — and you would not have defended me.”
14. “I'm not going to waste any more time with you,” Joab said. He took three spears and plunged them into Absalom's chest while he was still alive, hanging in the oak tree.
15. Then ten of Joab's soldiers closed in on Absalom and finished killing him.
16. Joab ordered the trumpet to be blown to stop the fighting, and his troops came back from pursuing the Israelites.
17. They took Absalom's body, threw it into a deep pit in the forest, and covered it with a huge pile of stones. All the Israelites fled to their own homes.
18. During his lifetime Absalom had built a monument for himself in King's Valley, because he had no son to keep his name alive. So he named it after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom's Monument.
19. Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said to Joab, “Let me run to the king with the good news that the Lord has saved him from his enemies.”
20. “No,” Joab said, “today you will not take any good news. Some other day you may do so, but not today, for the king's son is dead.”
21. Then he said to his Ethiopian slave, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” The slave bowed and ran off.
22. Ahimaaz insisted, “I don't care what happens; please let me take the news also.”“Why do you want to do it, my son?” Joab asked. “You will get no reward for it.”
23. “Whatever happens,” Ahimaaz said again, “I want to go.”“Then go,” Joab said. So Ahimaaz ran off down the road through the Jordan Valley, and soon he passed the slave.
24. David was sitting in the space between the inner and outer gates of the city. The watchman went up to the top of the wall and stood on the roof of the gateway; he looked out and saw a man running alone.