2 Samuel 18

David counted the men who were with him, and he appointed officers over them, some in charge of a thousand men and some in charge of a hundred.

1And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

2David sent the army out in three groups. One third was under Joab, one third under Joab's brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and one third under Ittai from Gath. The king told the men, "I am going out with you myself."

2And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also.

NoteZeruiah was David's sister (1 Chronicles 2:16), so Joab and Abishai are the king's nephews. The Hebrew text names them by their mother rather than their father throughout, which is unusual. Ittai came from Gath, a Philistine city; he was a foreign mercenary who had joined David only days before (chapter 15), which makes his command of a third of the army striking.

3But the men answered, "You must not go out. If we have to run away, the enemy will not care about us. Even if half of us die, they will not care. But you are worth ten thousand of us. It is better if you help us from the city."

3But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city.

NoteThe reasoning is military, not flattery. In this kind of warfare the death or capture of the king ended the war at a stroke, and Absalom's advisers had in fact proposed striking at David alone (17:2-3). Kept inside the walled city, David cannot be reached.

4The king said to them, "I will do whatever you think is best." So the king stood beside the gate while all the men marched out by hundreds and by thousands.

4And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.

5The king gave an order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: "For my sake, be gentle with the young man Absalom." All the men heard the king give this order to every commander about Absalom.

5And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.

NoteThe king's order is given in public, in front of the whole army as it files past. That detail matters for what happens in verses 11-13.

6So the army marched out into the countryside to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

6So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;

Note"Israel" here means the northern tribes who had gone over to Absalom; David's side is called "David's servants" or "David's men." Both armies are Israelite: this is a civil war. The forest of Ephraim lay east of the Jordan, near Mahanaim where David had taken refuge (17:24), despite Ephraim being a tribe settled west of the river.

7There the men of Israel were beaten by David's men. It was a great slaughter that day: twenty thousand men died.

7Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "thousand" can also mean a military unit or contingent of unspecified size, so the scale of the casualty figures in such accounts is uncertain.

8The fighting spread out over the whole countryside, and that day the forest killed more men than the sword did.

8For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

NoteNot a poetic flourish. The country east of the Jordan is cut by deep ravines and rocky gullies under dense scrub; a routed army running through it at speed lost more men to falls, entanglement and stragglers picked off than to the fighting itself.

9Absalom ran into David's men. He was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak tree. Absalom's head was caught fast in the tree, and he was left hanging in midair while the mule kept going.

9And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

NoteMules were the mount of royalty and princes in Israel (1 Kings 1:33); riding one was a claim to rank. The Hebrew says his head was caught, not his hair, though chapter 14 had made a point of Absalom's famously heavy hair. "Between the heaven and the earth" is a Hebrew way of saying he hung in midair, touching neither.

10One of the men saw it and told Joab, "I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree."

10And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.

11Joab said to the man who told him, "You saw him? Then why didn't you strike him to the ground right there? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a soldier's belt."

11And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.

NoteA shekel was a weight of silver, roughly 11.5 grams, not a coin, coined money did not yet exist in Israel, and silver was weighed out on scales (see verse 12). Ten shekels was about a year's wages for a hired man (Judges 17:10). The "girdle" is a soldier's belt, a mark of rank that could be awarded as a decoration.

12The man answered Joab, "Even if someone weighed out a thousand pieces of silver into my hands, I would not lift my hand against the king's son. We all heard the king order you and Abishai and Ittai, 'Be careful that no one touches the young man Absalom.'

12And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.

NoteA thousand shekels is about twenty-five pounds of silver, a deliberately absurd sum, the man's way of saying no price would be enough. He also quotes the king's order back at Joab, who was standing there when it was given.

13If I had risked my own life by doing it, nothing stays hidden from the king, and you yourself would have turned against me."

13Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.

NoteThe Hebrew here is difficult. Literally the man says he would have "dealt falsely against his own life", acted treacherously at the cost of his own neck. The last clause can be read either as "you would have turned against me" or "you would have stood aloof," that is, kept your distance and let me take the blame alone.

14Then Joab said, "I am not going to waste time with you like this." He took three spears in his hand and drove them through Absalom's heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree.

14Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

NoteThe word rendered "darts" or "spears" normally means a stick, rod or staff; what exactly Joab threw or drove in is uncertain. "Heart" translates a Hebrew word that can mean the chest or the middle of the body generally. Since Absalom is still alive afterwards and the armor-bearers have to finish him, these were evidently not killing blows.

15Then ten young men who carried Joab's armor surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.

15And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.

16Joab blew the ram's horn, and the men stopped chasing Israel, because Joab called them back.

16And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

NoteThe ram's horn was the standard battlefield signal instrument. A single blast was how a commander recalled troops from a pursuit; there was no other way to give an order across a battlefield.

17They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge heap of stones over him. Meanwhile all the Israelites ran away, each man to his home.

17And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

NoteHeaping stones over a body was the burial given to someone who died in disgrace, the same treatment given to Achan and to the king of Ai (Joshua 7:26; 8:29). It is the deliberate opposite of the monument described in the next verse. "Every one to his tent" is a Hebrew idiom meaning everyone went home, left over from the days when Israel lived in tents.

18While he was alive, Absalom had set up a stone pillar for himself in the King's Valley, because he said, "I have no son to keep my name alive." He named the pillar after himself, and to this day it is called Absalom's Monument.

18Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place.

NoteIn Israel a man's name survived through his sons, who inherited his land and kept his memory in the family line; a man without a son was effectively erased. A stone pillar set up in his own name was the substitute. Chapter 14:27 says Absalom had three sons, so either they died young or the two notices simply stand side by side unreconciled. The King's Valley was near Jerusalem (Genesis 14:17). "To this day" means as of the time the account was written; the monument shown to visitors in Jerusalem today is a much later structure.

19Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, "Let me run and bring the king the news that the LORD has paid back his enemies for him."

19Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his enemies.

NoteZadok was one of the two chief priests. He had stayed behind in Jerusalem as David's informant when the king fled, and his son Ahimaaz had already run messages through enemy lines (chapter 17). The Hebrew verb for carrying news is specifically the verb for bringing *good* news; the runner who reached a king first with word of victory expected honor and a reward, which is why Ahimaaz is so eager and why Joab in verse 22 speaks of a reward.

20But Joab said to him, "You are not the one to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but not today, because the king's son is dead."

20And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king’s son is dead.

21Then Joab said to a man from Cush, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed to Joab and ran off.

21Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

NoteCush was the region on the Nile south of Egypt, roughly modern Sudan. The Hebrew has the definite article, "the Cushite", so this is a description of where the man came from, not a personal name; the King James treats it as the name "Cushi."

22Ahimaaz son of Zadok spoke to Joab again: "No matter what happens, please let me run after the Cushite too." Joab said, "My son, why do you want to run, when you have no news that will earn you a reward?"

22Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready?

23"No matter what," he said, "let me run." So Joab told him, "Run." Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain, and he passed the Cushite.

23But howsoever, said he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi.

Note"The plain" is the flat round of the Jordan valley. It is the longer way but level going, while the direct route runs over broken hill country, so the man who starts second arrives first.

24David was sitting between the two gates. The lookout went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.

24And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone.

NoteCity gates were not a single door but a fortified passage with an outer and an inner gate, guardrooms along the sides and an open space between, the ordinary place for a king to sit and hear business. There was a chamber above it (verse 33) and a flat roof on top, which is where the lookout stands.

25The lookout called out and told the king. The king said, "If he is alone, he has news to tell." The runner came on quickly and drew near.

25And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near.

NoteThe logic is that of a watchman: a single man running means a messenger sent deliberately. Many men running would mean an army in flight, and therefore defeat.

26Then the lookout saw another man running, and he called down to the gatekeeper, "Look, another man is running alone." The king said, "He is bringing news too."

26And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.

27The lookout said, "It seems to me that the first man runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok." The king said, "He is a good man. He is coming with good news."

27And the watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.

28Ahimaaz called out to the king, "All is well." He bowed with his face to the ground before the king and said, "Blessed be the LORD your God, who has handed over the men who raised their hands against my lord the king."

28And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.

Note"All is well" translates *shalom*, the ordinary greeting-word for peace and safety. It is the same word the king uses in the next verse when he asks whether Absalom is "safe," and again in verse 32, Ahimaaz's cheerful greeting has already used the word the king is about to spend on his son.

29The king asked, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" Ahimaaz answered, "When Joab sent the king's servant and me, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I did not know what it was."

29And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king’s servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.

30The king said to him, "Step aside and stand here." So he stepped aside and stood still.

30And the king said unto him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.

31Then the Cushite arrived and said, "News for my lord the king. Today the LORD has paid back everyone who rose up against you."

31And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king: for the LORD hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee.

32The king asked the Cushite, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" The Cushite answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king, and everyone who rises up to harm you, end up like that young man."

32And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.

NoteThis is a formal circumlocution, a wish spoken so as to avoid saying the words "he is dead." The king understands it perfectly.

33The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, "Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!"

33And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

Note"Much moved" translates a Hebrew verb meaning to tremble or shake. The chamber over the gate is the room above the gate passage described in verse 24. In printed Hebrew Bibles this verse is numbered 19:1, so verse numbers in chapter 19 run one ahead of the English from here on.