Joab killed Absalom

6 So the army went out to fight against the Israeli soldiers who were with Absalom. They fought the battle in the forest where people from the tribe of Ephraim lived. 7 David’s soldiers defeated Absalom’s soldiers. They killed 20,000 of them! 8 The battle was fought {They fought the battle} all over that area, and the number of men who died because of dangerous things in the forest [PRS] was greater than the number of men who were killed ◄in the battle/by swords►.

9 During the battle, Absalom suddenly came near some of David’s soldiers. Absalom was riding on his mule; and when the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak tree, Absalom’s head/hair was caught in the branches. The mule kept going, but Absalom was left dangling in the air.

10 One of David’s soldiers saw what happened, and went and told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!”

11 Joab said to the man, “What? You say that you saw him hanging there, so why did you not kill him immediately [RHQ]? If you had killed him, I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt!”

12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if you gave me 1,000 pieces of silver, I would not have done anything to harm [IDM] the king’s son. We all heard the king command you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake, do not harm my son Absalom!’ 13 If I had disobeyed the king and killed Absalom, the king would have heard about it, because the king hears about everything, and even you would not have defended me!”

14 Joab said, “I am not going to waste time talking to you!” Then he took three spears and went to where Absalom was, and thrust them into Absalom’s chest/heart while he was still alive, dangling from the oak tree. 15 Then ten young men who carried weapons for Joab surrounded Absalom and finished killing him.

16 Then Joab blew his trumpet to signal that they should not fight any more, and his soldiers returned from pursuing those Israeli soldiers. 17 They took Absalom’s body and threw it into a huge pit in the forest, and covered it with a huge pile of stones. Then all the remaining Israeli soldiers who had been with Absalom fled to their own towns.

18 Absalom had no sons to preserve his family name. So, while Absalom was alive, he built a monument to himself in the King’s Valley near Jerusalem, in order that people would remember him. He put his name on the monument, and people still call it Absalom’s monument.