1. Then David mustered the people who were with him, and he appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.
2. David sent forth a third of the troops under the command of Joab, and a third under the command of Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the remaining third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I, even I, will certainly go out with you.”
3. Then the troops said, “You will not go out, for if we must flee, then they will not care about us; even if half of us die, they will not care about us, but now, you are like ten thousand of us. And so then, it is better for us that you be in the city to help.”
4. The king said to them, “I will do what seems good in your eyes.” So the king stood at the side of the gate while all of the troops went out by hundreds and by thousands.
5. The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “With respect to the young man Absalom, deal gently for me.” And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.
6. The army went out to the field to meet Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim.
7. The army of Israel was defeated there before the servants of David, and the defeat there was great on that day: twenty thousand.
8. The battle there was spreading over the surface of all the land, and the forest devoured more among the army than the sword did on that day.
9. Absalom was found in the presence of the servants of David as he was riding on the mule. The mule went under the thicket of the great oak tree, and his head was caught in the tree. He was left hanging between heaven and earth, and the mule which was under him went on.
10. When a certain man saw it, he told Joab, and he said, “Look, I saw Absalom hanging in the oak tree!”
11. Then Joab said to the man who was telling him, “Look, if you saw, why did you not strike him down to the ground there? I would have gladly given you ten pieces of silver and a leather belt.”
12. The man said to Joab, “Even if I felt the weight of a thousand pieces of silver in my palms, I would not have sent my hand against the son of the king, for in our ears the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Whoever you may be, protect the young man Absalom.’