¹And David took stock of the people who were with him, and he appointed commanders of a thousand and commanders of a hundred over them. ²And David sent out one third of the people under Joab's charge, and one third under the charge of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and one third under the charge of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I too will certainly go out with you.” ³But the people said, “You will not go out, for if we have to flee, they will not pay attention to us, and if half of us die, they will not pay attention to us, but you are now like ten thousand of us, and you are better placed now if you are available to us to help from the city.” ⁴And the king said to them, “I will do whatever is right in your eyes.” And the king stood next to the gate, while all the people went out in hundreds and in thousands. ⁵And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai and said, “Deal gently with the young man Absalom for me.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. ⁶And the people went out into the country to confront Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷And the people of Israel were defeated there by David's servants, and there was a great massacre on that day – twenty thousand dead. ⁸And the battle there was spread out over the face of all the land, and the forest consumed the people in greater numbers than the sword consumed on that day. ⁹And Absalom happened to be confronted by David's servants, and Absalom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under a thicket of large terebinth trees, and his head became stuck in a terebinth tree, and he was lodged between the sky and the ground, while the mule which was under him passed on. ¹⁰And a certain man saw him, and he told Joab, and he said, “Look, I have seen Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree.” ¹¹And Joab said to the man who told him, “Well, if you saw him, then why did you not strike him down on the spot to the ground? And I would have been obliged to give you ten pieces of silver and a girdle.” ¹²Then the man said to Joab, “Even if I were to feel the weight of one thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not stretch out my hand against the king's son, because the king gave commandment, with us hearing, to you and Abishai and Ittai, when he said, ‘Be on your guard – let no-one harm the lad Absalom.’ ¹³Otherwise, I would have committed a dishonesty against his very self, and nothing can be concealed from the king, and you would have taken a stand against me.” ¹⁴Then Joab said, “I can't wait around with you like this”, and he took three spears in his hand, and he drove them into Absalom's heart while he was still alive in the heart of the terebinth tree. ¹⁵And the ten youths who bore Joab's equipment surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him. ¹⁶Then Joab sounded the ramshorn, and the people stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab spared the people. ¹⁷And they took Absalom and threw him in a large pit in the forest, and they erected a very large pile of stones over him, and all Israel fled, each to his tent. ¹⁸For in his life Absalom had taken and erected for himself the pillar which is in the King's Valley, for he said, “I do not have a son to remember my name.” And he called the pillar after his name, and it is called the Memorial of Absalom up to this day. ¹⁹Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and bring the good news to the king, for the Lord has done him justice by delivering him from the hand of his enemy.” ²⁰But Joab said to him, “You will not be a bringer of good news today, but you will bring the good news another day. So today you will not bring good news, because the king's son is dead.” ²¹Then Joab said to Cushi, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” And Cushi prostrated himself to Joab and ran. ²²Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok spoke again to Joab and said, “However it may be, do let me run as well after Cushi.” And Joab said, “Why should you run, my son, when you will have no good news coming in?” ²³He replied, “However it may be, I will certainly run.” And he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the route of the adjacent tract, and he overtook Cushi. ²⁴Now David was sitting between the two gates when the look-out went onto the gate roof above the wall, and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and what he saw was a man running on his own. ²⁵And the look-out called out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is on his own, there will be good news in his mouth.” And he came nearer and nearer. ²⁶Then the look-out saw another man running, and the look-out called to the gatekeeper and said, “There is another man running on his own.” And the king said, “He too is bringing good news.” ²⁷Then the look-out said, “I make out the gait of the first one to be the gait of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, “He is a good man, and he will come with good news.” ²⁸And Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Peace”, and he prostrated himself to the king with his face to the ground. And he said, “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king.” ²⁹At this the king asked, “Is the lad Absalom all right?” And Ahimaaz said, “When Joab was on the point of sending the king's servant and your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I did not know what it was.” ³⁰Then the king said, “Stand aside here.” So he stood aside. ³¹And it was then that Cushi came, and Cushi said, “Let my lord the king receive good tidings, for the Lord has done you justice today delivering you from the hand of all those who rose up against you.” ³²Then the king said to Cushi, “How is the lad Absalom?” And Cushi said, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all those who rise up against you to do harm, be as the lad is.” ³³And the king was upset, and he went up into the attic room of the gate and wept. And this is what he said as he walked around: “My son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! Absalom my son, my son.”