Absalom Killed

2 Samuel 18

1 And David 1 numbered the people who were with him, and a set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 Then David sent out one third of the people under the hand of Joab, b one third under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and one third under the hand of c Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, "I also will surely go out with you myself." 3 d But the people answered, "You shall not go out! For if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city." 4 Then the king said to them, "Whatever seems best to you I will do." So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom." e And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains orders concerning Absalom.

6 So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the f woods of Ephraim. 7 The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day. 8 For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

9 Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and g his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on. 10 Now a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, "I just saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!" 11 So Joab said to the man who told him, "You just saw him! And why did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a belt." 12 But the man said to Joab, "Though I were to receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king's son. h For in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 2 'Beware lest anyone touch the young man Absalom!' 13 "Otherwise I would have dealt falsely against my own life. For there is nothing hidden from the king, and you yourself would have set yourself against me." 14 Then Joab said, "I cannot linger with you." And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through Absalom's heart, while he was still alive in the midst of the terebinth tree. 15 And ten young men who bore Joab's armor surrounded Absalom, and struck and killed him.

16 So Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel. For Joab held back the people. 17 And they took Absalom and cast him into a large pit in the woods, and i laid a very large heap of stones over him. Then all Israel j fled, everyone to his tent. 18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up a 3 pillar for himself, which is in k the King's Valley. For he said, l "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance." He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absalom's Monument.

  1. Cross References
    2 Samuel 16:2
    And the king said to Ziba, "What do you mean to do with these?" So Ziba said, "The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who are faint in the wilderness to drink.
    2 Samuel 16:14
    Now the king and all the people who were with him became weary; so they refreshed themselves there.
  2. Cross References
    Exodus 18:25
    And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
    Numbers 31:14
    But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.
    1 Samuel 22:7
    Then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, "Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds?
  3. Cross References
    Judges 7:16
    Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.
    1 Samuel 11:11
    So it was, on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and killed Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it happened that those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
  4. Cross References
    2 Samuel 15:19 - 22
    Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why are you also going with us? Return and remain with the king. For you are a foreigner and also an exile from your own place.
  5. Cross References
    2 Samuel 21:17
    But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.
  6. Cross References
    2 Samuel 18:12
    But the man said to Joab, "Though I were to receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king's son. For in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Beware lest anyone touch the young man Absalom!
  7. Cross References
    Joshua 17:15
    So Joshua answered them, "If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.
    Joshua 17:18
    "but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong."
    2 Samuel 17:26
    So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
  8. Cross References
    2 Samuel 14:26
    And when he cut the hair of his head - at the end of every year he cut it because it was heavy on him - when he cut it, he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels according to the king's standard.
  9. Cross References
    2 Samuel 18:5
    Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, " Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom." And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains orders concerning Absalom.
  10. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 21:20
    "And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.'
    Deuteronomy 21:21
    Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
    Joshua 7:26
    Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.
    Joshua 8:29
    And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
  11. Cross References
    2 Samuel 19:8
    Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And they told all the people, saying, "There is the king, sitting in the gate." So all the people came before the king. For everyone of Israel had fled to his tent.
    2 Samuel 20:1
    And there happened to be there a rebel, whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew a trumpet, and said: "We have no share in David, Nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; Every man to his tents, O Israel!
    2 Samuel 20:22
    Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. Then he blew a trumpet, and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.
  12. Cross References
    Genesis 14:17
    And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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