4. The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.”So the king stood beside the gate while all of the people went out by hundreds and thousands.
5. The king commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Deal gently with the young man Absalom.” All of the people heard the king instruct the commanders concerning Absalom.
6. So the people went out toward Israel in the field, but the fighting occurred in the forest of Ephraim.
7. The people of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David. That day the defeat was extensive, twenty thousand men.
8. The fighting spread across the land, and the people consumed by the forest were more numerous than those consumed by the sword that day.
9. Absalom was encountered by some of the servants of David. Now Absalom was riding on his mule. When the mule went under the branches of a very large tree, his head was caught in the tree. He was left in midair while the mule that was under him kept going.
10. One man saw him and reported it to Joab, saying, “I saw Absalom hanging in a tree.”
11. Joab said to the man who was reporting to him, “What? You saw him? Why did you not strike him on the spot, sending him to the ground? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a belt.”